Dang Le Nguyen Vu, founder and chairman of Vietnamese coffee giant Trung Nguyen Corporation, has lost his executive power over the G7 brand, a subsidiary focused on instant coffee, following a lawsuit filed by his wife.

The Department of Planning and Investment in Binh Duong Province on Wednesday issued a decision terminating the legal representation of Vu at Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee Company.

Trung Nguyen Corporation is a business group involved in the production, processing and distribution of coffee, and is one of the largest domestic coffee brands in Vietnam, exporting its products to more than 60 countries.

Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee is a subsidiary of Trung Nguyen Corporation focusing on the production of instant coffee, including the G7 brand.

Wednesday’s decision recalled and invalidated the eighth and latest version of the company’s business registration, according to which Vu was named its legal representative.

Pursuant to this decision, Vu’s wife Le Hoang Diep Thao has reclaimed her position as the company’s legal representative, as stated in the previous version of the business registration.

According to Vietnamese laws, a legal representative can be a company’s board chairman, general director, or director, who will represent the company in exercising its rights and obligations arising from business transactions.

The decision by Binh Duong Province authorities was based on a dispatch on May 13 by the Ho Chi Minh City Senior People’s Court, which answered Thao’s request for a recall of the company’s latest business registration to wait for the conclusion of divorce proceedings between the two.

The fight over executive rights to the subsidiary company was brought up late last year, when Trung Nguyen announced the temporary termination of its instant coffee production, citing machinery maintenance.

However, Thao later sent a letter to the company’s clients and authorities revealing the main reason behind the shutdown as ongoing conflicts between her and Vu.

According to Thao, Vu had taken it upon himself to dismiss her as the board chairwoman and general director at Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee, a decision she deemed “legally unfounded,” for Vu had not consulted the other two members of the board.

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