20 August 2003 :

Phan Ngoc Hanh, a 37 year old director and owner of the Dong Nai Company, a water bottling operation, was given the death penalty by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court. He had been found guilty of duping local companies in Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring southern provinces into lending him around 1.35 million dollars over a two-year period from 2001, but then refusing to pay back the loans. Hanh was arrested in March 2003.