Aussie Jetstar workers held in Vietnam
From the West Australian:
Vietnamese authorities have arrested the former head of Jetstar Pacific and prevented two of its Australian employees from leaving the country after the carrier reported losses on fuel contracts, state media said.
Luong Hoai Nam, 47, former general director of Jetstar Pacific Airlines - a partnership between the government’s investment arm SCIC and Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd - was taken into police custody in Hanoi on Thursday, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said.
Online newspaper Vietnamnet reported that two Australian executives of Jetstar Pacific, identified as Daniela Masilli and Tristan Freeman, were not allowed to leave the country.
A spokesman at Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that the two Australians have been prevented from leaving Vietnam and said the Australian embassy in Hanoi is seeking further details.
The Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted a report by state investigators that Nam and the two Australian deputy general directors flouted a board of directors resolution on buying aviation fuel futures, leading to losses of more than $US31 million ($A33.81 million).
The resolution only allowed the general director and his two deputies to buy fuel futures up to the end of 2008, but they extended the purchase until May last year, the report said.
Police also searched Nam’s homes and offices in Hanoi and the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, the newspaper said.
Officials at Jetstar Pacific and police were not immediately available for comment.
State media has quoted Nam as saying that most airlines in the world suffered losses from buying fuel futures because of volatile oil prices over the past two years which peaked at $US143 per barrel and then slumped to as low as $US39 per barrel.
In 2007, Australia’s Qantas bought 18 per cent of Pacific Airlines and turned it into a low-cost airline, operating as Jetstar Pacific. Qantas’s stake has since increased to 27 per cent.
Nam was the general director of Pacific Airlines since 2004 and resigned late last year citing personal reasons.
AP