Inspectors from the Ministry of Information and Communications have fined the Nguoi Cao Tuoi (The Elderly) newspaper 699.7 million VND for violating the Press Law and other legal regulations.

The sum included 140 million VND for the newspaper publishing directly news stories on its website www.nguoicaotuoi.org.vn without licence from the Ministry of Information and Communications. The website’s domain was also withdrawn.

The newspaper was found to have published complaints and comments that have no legal grounds, causing serious effects. The action infringed upon Point a, Clause 4, Article 5, and Point a, Clause 3, Article 8 of the Government’s Decree No. 159/2013/ND-CP regulating sanctions against administrative violations in press and publishing activities, and was subject to a fine of 60 million VND.

The newspaper published some articles which distorted the truth, aimed at insulting and making false accusations against individuals and organisations. The activity was fined 25 million VND.

A fine of 400 million VND was imposed for the newspaper for publishing inappropriate advertisements by using the names of doctors for advertising medicines or functional food.

Previously, on February 10, the Association of Vietnamese Journalists announced the withdrawal of the press card of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Kim Quoc Hoa for violating the Association’s regulations following an inspection conducted by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

On February 9, the Ministry of Public Security’s investigative unit prosecuted the case on the grounds that the newspaper infringed on the country’s benefit and the legal rights and legitimate interests of organisations and individuals as stated in article 258 of the Penal Code.-VNA