The ownership of all 100 cashew nut containers related to a suspected scam in Italy has returned to Vietnamese businesses, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in the European country.

The containers, belonging to six Vietnamese exporters, were sold under contracts with a group of five importers in Italy. As the containers had been already dispatched, with some having reached Italian ports, the Vietnamese sellers claimed that they had not received any payment as agreed from the buyers and had lost track of the original documents of the consignments.

According to the office, right after scam signs were detected, the Vietnamese firms coordinated with relevant agencies to stop the delivery of 26 containers.

Among the 74 containers already loaded on ships, 39 that were transiting in Singapore were turned back to Viet Nam. For the containers that were en route to Italy, the Vietnamese side asked the delivery agencies to return the original documents to the exporters.

Meanwhile, among 35 containers whose original documents were lost, 30 have been sent back to Viet Nam, or sold to other Italian buyers or exported to a third country.

For the remaining five containers staying in Italian ports, on May 27, the Larino civil court affirmed the right of the Vietnamese exporters to regain their ownership of three containers. On June 15 and 16, Italian police returned the last two containers to Vietnamese businesses.

Vice Director of the Agency for Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Tran Thanh Hai attributed the results to effective efforts to protect the rights of businesses.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh talked directly to his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi to ask for support to settle the case, he said, adding that Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien also sent an official letter to the ministers of Economy and Finance, and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy to request their coordination.

At the same time, many Vietnamese relevant ministries, the Vietnamese Cashew Association, the Vietnamese Embassy in Italy and many other agencies joined hands in handling the case, he stressed.

Through this case, Hai advised Vietnamese firms to draw their own lessons when exporting products to international markets. — VNS