A former Wellcome Supermarket regional manager has been jailed 39-months for accepting $54,000 in bribes from a food supplier and perversion offences. Nguyen Van-to, 52, was also ordered to pay a restitution of $54,000 to Wellcome.

In sentencing, District Court Deputy Judge Colin Mackintosh said the case was serious and an immediate custodial sentence was imposed as a deterrent.

The defendant was today found guilty of eight counts of accepting advantages and one of perverting the course of public justice. The offences occurred between March and November last year. Nguyen accepted $54,000 from a food company's shareholder-cum-director as reward for helping get permission to sell roasted meat and flowers in Wellcome outlets.

Nguyen also asked the shareholder to make a document, falsely purporting that the latter had borrowed money from him, and requested he use it and give false evidence about the document at trials.