Rome (VNA) – Italian police have kept fourcontainers of cashew nuts delivered to this country’s Port of Genoa, a stridein the settlement of a suspected scam involving 100 cashew nut containers exportedfrom Vietnam.

Vietnam’s trade office in Italy said on March 10 this isan encouraging step that the Vietnamese companies with the product beingtransported to Italian ports can consider.

To deal with the case, a delegation from the trade office cameto Naples on March 10 to meet Vietnam’s Honorary Consul in this city SilvioVecchione and many agencies in southern Italy, including the Port of Naples,military police, tax authorities, banks, and the delivery firm DHL - the mainpoints of transit of the 36 sets of original documents that Vietnamese firmslost track of.

Signs of a scam became clearer when some banks said they hadreceived only photocopied documents or blank papers sent to the persons withoutaccounts at those banks.

Trade Counsellor in Italy Nguyen Duc Thanh saidonly 36 sets of documents are being lost, noting that among the 100 sets oforiginal documents, Vietnamese companies have retained over 50 and reclaimedmany others returned by DHL.

The most important thing is that the first four containers toarrive at the Port of Genoa have been kept by Italy’s financial police thanksto timely actions by relevant parties, he said, adding that lawyers willcontinue working with relevant agencies of Italy to return the goods toVietnam, or let the companies sell the cashew nuts to other buyers in Italy orother countries.

Authorised by Vietnam’s Trade Office, Honorary Consul SilvioVecchione filed a denunciation of the cashew nut scam to Naples police.

He recommended that when tradingwith Italian firms, Vietnamese businesses should learn information about theirpartners through the Vietnamese Embassy, the trade office, and honorary consulshere so as to maximise safety for bilateral transactions.

He also affirmed his readiness toassist Vietnamese businesses to learn about and work with Italian partners./.