[jackbl]

Sentence upheld for Vietnamese restaurant manager who robbed Japanese tourists

An appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday upheld a nine-year sentence against a man who last year was found guilty of overcharging and robbing Japanese diners at his restaurant, local media reported.
The indictment said Tran Manh Cuong had worked at the restaurant in Binh Thanh District since 2005.
He asked Nguyen Thanh Do, who happened to speak Japanese, to draw Japanese tourists to the restaurant.
Cuong would then inflate the prices and ask the foreign diners to pay much more than they were supposed to. The extra amount was shared between him and Do.
The long-running scheme was only busted in December 2008 when police caught Do and two employees from Cuong’s restaurant beating two Japanese tourists and forcing them to withdraw money at an ATM.
The tourists had been asked to pay $1,200 for a dinner that cost only $80.
Cuong escaped soon after that and only turned himself in in October 2014.
He was sentenced to nine years in prison in September last year for robbery. He admitted that he was responsible for taking VND100 million from Japanese tourists over the years.
Do, 33, was earlier sentenced to 20 years in 2010. Other restaurant workers involved received between one and 12 years.