VN business news (May 1)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

May 01: Vietnam: Tribeco Investigated On Tax Evasion - Report
May 01: Singapore Doesn't Want Vietnam In APEC 


Vietnam: Tribeco Investigated On Tax Evasion - Report 

HO CHI MINH CITY (AP-Dow Jones)--Saigon Beverages Co. (Tribeco), a
Vietnamese bottler and soft-drinks maker, and a joint-venture partner
of the U.S.' Pepsico Inc. (PEP), is being investigated for tax
evasion, local state media reported recently. No formal charges have
been laid.

On April 11, the government ordered that Tribeco's management,
property and operations be examined to determine a level of taxation.
The company's accounting procedures, spending, capital gains and
production performance from the start of 1996 to the first quarter of
1997 will be investigated over the next two months, the
Vietnamese-language daily, Tuoi Tre, said on Saturday.

Pepsi formed a joint venture with Tribeco in 1994, when the U.S. trade
embargo on Vietnam was lifted. While Tribeco, a private company,
doesn't disclose its profit, analysts describe it as one of the
success stories of private enterprise in Vietnam.

But now it's the fourth company to come under investigation in the
government's anti-corruption drive, following Export Processing Co.,
Minh Phung Co. and Huy Hoang Co.
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Singapore Doesn't Want Vietnam In APEC 

SINGAPORE (FEER) -- Singapore has quietly lobbied Australia, New
Zealand and the U.S. in recent months to try and convince them to
oppose the admission of Vietnam into the 18-member Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum, reports the Intelligence column in the
latest edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review, published Thursday.

It has been widely expected the admission would take place when APEC
holds its summit in Canada in November.

Singapore officials are arguing that Vietnam, which joined the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations in mid-1995, isn't 'ready' to
be a member of the larger APEC grouping.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been actively lobbying
for Vietnam to be admitted at the next summit.