Ministry of Finance also refuses to help Mai Linh

Mai Linh's requests fell on deaf ears once again

In early February, MoF issued an answer to the negative to Mai Linh’s proposal. Accordingly, MoF said such requests are not within the company’s legal rights. Besides, MoF also stated that there has yet to be any precedent or regulation related to the case.

Furthermore, MoF proposed to refer Mai Linh’s request to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) because, according to regulations, MoLISA is in charge of social insurance and voluntary insurance issues, while MoH is in charge of health insurance-related queries.

Previously, Tran Dinh Lieu, deputy general director of VSS, told Vneconomy that the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) cannot meet Mai Linh’s requirements because the proposal is not legal. VSS promised to forward the company’s request to the government and relevant agencies for consideration.

Meanwhile, numerous experts claimed that it would be difficult to approve the request, saying that every year Vietnam sees thousands of enterprises go bankrupt or suspend operations or simply struggle to remain on the surface. Thus rescuing Mai Linh would set a bad precedent.

In January 2018, Mai Linh sent a document to the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs, MoF, and VSS to report its massive accumulated outstanding debts of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance, as well as plunging revenue.

According to the company, the bleak financial results were caused by the unfair competition from Uber and Grab.

Thus, Mai Linh requested the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs, MoF, and VSS to cancel the interest and the penalty on its social insurance debts and late payment fees, while simultaneously extending the deadline for its original debt payment and permit Mai Linh to pay within 20 months of 2018, with VND6 billion ($264,251) per year.