A Paris-based court has turned down the appeal of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA), forcing the communist airline to pay EUR5.2 million worth of compensation to an Italian lawyer, who was illegally dismissed in 1992.
According to the verdict, which comes into affect on March 9, VNA will have to make the compensation to Maurizio Liberati via a bank account of a lawyer in Paris.
In addition, VNA was also forced to pay US$10,000 of lawyer fees and come other charges to the court.
The money excluded interest, court courses said.
It seems that the largest air carrier in Vietnam this time did not entertain any illusion of winning the lawsuit, as in early April, VNA reported the case to the Government, asking for approval of using its standby fund to pay for the charges.
The case was finalized after around ten years.
In 2000, a court in Rome ordered Vietnam Airlines to pay nearly 5.2 million euros in damages for Maurizio Liberati, an Italian lawyer.
The decision followed a lawsuit filed by Mr. Liberati in September 1994 against Vietnam Airlines’ sales agent in Italy, Falcomar, after he was fired by the agent.
The lawyer originally sued Falcomar for 573 million Italian liras in allegedly unpaid services.
The national flag carrier was notified of court proceedings in 1995 in Rome, but didn't send representatives to attend. The trial went on without them in line with Italian laws.
In February, 2004, the airline was informed that Paris was freezing 1.3 million euros of its assets in a bank account in France to pay Liberati at the request of the Italian court.
On Mar. 7, 2000, the Roman Court delivered a verdict, which demanded Vietnam Airlines pay 4.85 billion lira or EUR4.3 million to Mr. Liberati in damages. But Vietnam Airlines claims it received no information about the verdict.
The Italian court has accepted an appeal from Vietnam Airlines, which began on January 17, 2006.
“We regret the events of the case. It shows that Vietnamese businesses are very inexperienced at signing international contracts,” said Nguyen Xuan Hien, Vietnam Airlines chief executive.
On these days, Vietnam Airlines has received continuous bad news. The ongoing inspection into several deals including leasing Boeing 777 aircraft in 2005, leaders and officials’ spending for tours to foreign countries, investment and the purchase of computing equipment and some offices of the airline is expected to uncover significant wrongdoing in the company.
Pioneer, Liberated Saigon, VietnamNet
Vietnamese
