Many FDI companies, forced to cease operations after the investors abandon the projects, have left unpaid wages, bureaucratic problems and anger in their wake.

 USD193 million textile, LuxFashion, abandoned for over a year

The Department of Taxation in Binh Duong Province issued a "black list" of FDI companies whose owners have fled, which includse Deok Chang Complex, Scanmach Vietnam and Woodus. Other provinces and cities also have announced their own lists of companies whose foreign investors seem to have simply vanished.

As of May 31, more than 500 FDI business owners apparently disappeared, leaving behind projects with a total registered capital of over USD903 million. Hanoi and HCM City have the highest number of such firms.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, most of the owners have been South Korean and Chinese. In most cases investors flee after incurring losses due to ineffective investment. However, there have been certain cases in which the investors simply appear to have been swindlers.

In most cases these investors not only fled with millions of debts to suppliers and unpaid workers, they also kept the social insurance documents of their staffs. For both suppliers and workers, finding compensation through the courts has proved to be difficult. Often there is no way to even contact the investors.

Labourers have been hit hardest by this trend, as the government has no policy to offer them support. The Ministry of Planning and Investment's stated policy is to support the unemployed when their employers face financial difficulties. This policy has not been revised since 2009.

The management agencies involved have also had troubles in obtaining investment documents from the fleeing investors. The province of Dong Nai is a typical example. The head of one industrial zone there said, "50 investors have disappeared but only 17 certificates have been recovered."

Tran Hao Hung, head of Legislation Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, admitted that Vietnamese laws lack regulations to deal with the situation.

The Investment Law allows FDI firms to temporarily halt operations for 12 months, but a more recent resolution issued in 2010 increased this period to two consecutive years.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment proposed withdrawing investment certificates of FDI firms that have halted operations and not made contact after six months. They also suggested making it necessary for investors to make deposits for large projects.