HANOI (Reuters): Tax authorities in Vietnam have frozen the accounts of embattled Bamboo Airways at three domestic banks after accusing it of failing to pay a debt of 102 billion dong (US$4.2 million) for 90 days, state media has reported.
The tax department of the central province of Binh Dinh had required lenders BIDV, MBB and Techombank to transfer Bamboo's funds to the department, the Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper reported.
Bamboo Airways, which has been struggling with management changes and aggressive restructuring since a former chairman was arrested in March 2022 over allegations of stock market manipulation, said it would make the tax payment this month.
"Bamboo Airways plans to complete the tax payment in November," it said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The recent payment delays were because we had been focusing on prioritising our customers."
The provincial tax department declined to comment when earlier reached by Reuters by telephone.
Sources said in September some pilots left the airline this year after late salary payments.
The airline, which has its headquarters in Binh Dinh province, said in September it was undergoing restructuring and was planning to raise capital from strategic shareholders.
"When the taxpayer completes its obligations, the Tax Department of Binh Dinh province will ask the banks to remove the lockdown," a tax department official, Pham Xuan Vinh, was quoted as saying in the report. ($1 = 24,360 dong) (Reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; editing by Robert Birsel)
