Vietnam - Restaurants offering striptease to be suspended

On Tuesday (Jan 31), Pham Thanh Kien, Vice Chairman of District 1 People’s Committee, confirmed the district’s administration has steered subordinate governments to crackdown on the illegal services at the striptease restaurants this month.

Part 1: Vietnam ladies’ dens for foreigners in city
Part 2: Striptease in restaurants
Part 3: Restaurants offering striptease to be suspended

The official made the decision right after several articles on Vietnamese ladies offering beer bathing and other nude services to foreigners were printed in Tuoi Tre newspaper.

He said besides strengthening inspections, and education, local authorities had other “special” methods to stop the violations. Restaurants that repeat the offences several times will have their investment licenses revoked.

The District 1 People’s Committee will propose that the city Department of Planning and Investment withdraw licenses of the violating restaurants. Those who offer services that violate criminal law will be prosecuted, Kien said.

The district administration will also inspect the premises of enterprises offering sensitive services in the locality and the spaces will be reclaimed if they are leased from State agencies. The district will encourage citizens who have their property rented to such restaurants not to renew their contracts.

Kien said the District 1 People’s Committee often asks its subordinate wards, especially Ben Nghe, Pham Ngu Lao, and Ben Thanh, to regularly inspect and close enterprises offering sensitive services.

With huge profits, the “businesses” resume operations successfully soon after they are suspended or closed down, Kien complained.

“Despite this complicated situation, we are determined to deal with the violated restaurants this month,” he added.

According to the municipal department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, last year, teams have inspected 230 enterprises that offer entertainment services in the city and found 220 cases in violation.

The city People’s Committee has released 179 official penalty letters, with the sum of fines reaching VND6 billion (US$286,000). Inspectors from the department also collected VND240 million (US$11,400) as punishment for the enterprises.

Common violations include operating without a license, offering obscene entertainment services and prostitution activities.

Inter-sector inspectorates on culture and society in the city have conducted several inspections of the restaurants that offer sensitive services. All enterprises that were inspected were found with violations.

According to Le Van Quy, deputy head of the Ho Chi MInh City Social Evils Prevention Division, restaurants with secluded rooms for karaoke singing served by young ladies dressed in extremely short skirts in District 1 and 3, are totally invested in by foreigners, mostly Korean and Japanese. They ask Vietnamese to represent them on the investment licenses, Quy said.

Between April and September last year, inspectors looked into 13 similar restaurants and posted VND609 million ($29,000) in fines for operating without licenses, organizing prostitution and obscene activities.

Keep operating

One of the inspectors said the penalty handed to the violators could be vividly compared as a grain of salt released into the ocean. Several restaurants were found and fined for different kinds of violations but the same violations were also discovered in further inspections a few days afterward.

Club 1102, one of the biggest bars in the city, which is equipped with wide screen, high capacity speakers, serves and “entertains” guests through the night long. When the inspection team arrived, it was 3AM. There were more than 100 customers drinking brandy under dim lights there.

No one admitted to the inspectors that the bar sold brandy and showed the brandy cellar concealed elsewhere in the bar. Hours later, the inspection team discovered a Limousine parked by the side of the Club 1102 building.

The luxurious car was full of brandy.. The official seized 19 packages of brandy, excluding hundreds of empty or half-used bottles. According to regulations, no bar or restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City is allowed to operate after midnight. However, several restaurants open their doors till 2 or 3AM despite the penalties handed out by local authorities.

The Mai Trinh 1 and 2 restaurants in Binh Tan District’s Binh Tri Dong B Ward, which was opened in July 2009 registered with the city’s department of Planning and Investment to operate as a common restaurant and sell machines and electronic equipment.

Between 2009 and 2010, relevant authorities in the district fined the restaurants’ owner VND45 million (US$2,142) for their violation. However the restaurants keep operating well.

The Binh Tan District’s police have proceeded against the restaurants’ owner for “illegal trading”. On December 9th 2010, Binh Tan District’s People’s Court decided to fine the restaurants VND30 million (US$1,400).

In November last year, the inspection team formed by officials from culture and social sectors discovered Mai Trinh 1 restaurant offering obscene services. The district’s People’s Committee decided to fine its owner VND32.1 million (US$1,523).

In spite of penalties from local authorities, the two restaurants still operate well and several pretty young girls are ready to offer beer bathing and striptease services.

TUOI TRE


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