A Vietnamese court has sentenced a former B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd. executive to 15 years in prison.

Soumyodiptha Saha was convicted of embezzling USD 77,930 from B9 Beverages Co., Ltd, the subsidiary of Bira 91-owner B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd, in 2019.

Mr Saha had reportedly been appointed Deputy Chief Financial Officer and lead for B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd.’s financial and accounting affairs, including Vietnam.

At the time, Bira had launched with much fanfare in the Vietnam market, including with marketing activations and social media advertising. 

However, the brewery failed to gain a solid foothold both with consumers and commercially and appears to have subsequently withdrawn from the market in 2020.

From August to October in 2019, Mr Saha transferred the funds to the bank account of his wife, a Vietnamese citizen, earlier in the year.

Mr Saha’s wife fled Vietnam in early 2020 after withdrawing the funds the former had sent her and is now uncontactable by authorities. 

Despite the funds being repaid by Mr Saha’s family and Bira’s parent firm waiving its claim in court, the trial panel ruled that the offender “seriously violated the rights and interests” of B9 Beverages Co., Ltd. under Vietnamese company law and thus was given a custodial jail sentence of fifteen years.