Khanh Hoa province’s customs authorities have proposed that the head of Trung Nam Group, Nguyen Tam Thinh, be prevented from travelling abroad, over unpaid taxes of VND 21 billion or US$824,305. Trung Nam Group has pushed back arguing that the unpaid taxes are the result of the state power provider, EVN, failing to pay for power generated from part of the firm’s operations from October 2020 to August 2022.
EVN was selling electricity at a loss for most of last year and 2022 and the start of this year too. This saw the state-owned enterprise accumulate losses of over US$1.5 billion. It has never been made clear how these losses have been covered but, in light of these claims, it could very well be that power producers may be footing the bill.
See also: Electricity in Vietnam: Foreign Investor Cheat Sheet 2024