A Vietnamese court has sentenced a South Korean businessman to 16 years' jail for illegally setting up Internet-based telephone services in the communist country, a justice official, quoted by in AFP report, said.
The Associated Press report said Ko Don Chul, 46, was found guilty of setting up the telecommunications systems in five locations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City that used the Internet and avoided government telephone charges on overseas calls, the official said.
The Hanoi people's court on sentenced Ko after a two-day trial in which prosecutors claimed his activities had led to losses of over $1.1 million in government revenues, said a court official asking not to be named.
Ko, who was arrested in November 2005, has asked for a retrial, the AFP report said.