The HCM City People's Supreme Court yesterday upheld the seven-year jail sentence for a man in Tien Giang Province for extorting money from a local beverage maker. The man claimed to have discovered a fly inside an unopened energy drink bottle.
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| Vo Van Minh at the court of appeal in HCM City on September 8. |
According to Tuoitre Newspaper, on December 3, 2014, Vo Van Minh, 36, found a fly in one of the Number 1 bottles at his restaurant in Tien Giang Province, and decided to ask its producer, Tan Hiep Phat Group, to pay VND500 million (USD23,300) in return for his silence.
He had demanded VND1 billion (USD46,600) before halving it following a compromise with the firm.
Minh was about to receive the cash from a company representative on January 27, 2015 when police officers showed up to arrest him.
Tan Hiep Phat had notified local officials of what it considered a blackmail attempt before the representative met him.
The Tien Giang court last December ruled that it was extortion, and sentenced the man for a seven-year jail term.
Even though the man did not receive the money, it had already been a criminal offence when the company “was threatened so that it had to agree to pay the sum,” Tien Giang court reported.
At the court of appeal yesterday in HCM City, Minh continued to claim his innocence but the judges said that it was clear an act of extortion so upheld the seven-year jail sentence.
Minh did not ask for a reduced sentence but just claimed to be innocent, but the judge said there were enough grounds to sentence to him.
Tan Hiep Phat Group, based in the southern province of Binh Duong, is the maker of the Number 1 energy drink and Dr Thanh herbal tea.
A wave of consumer boycotts of Tan Hiep Phat's products followed the dispute with Minh, which led to the company admitting to suffering losses of around VND2 trillion (USD89.29 million).