A Malaysian advertising executive was jailed for two years in Vietnam after being caught trying to sneak US$51,000 out of the country, the Malaysian consulate in Hanoi said today.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court yesterday found Pius Eugene Gerard guilty of money smuggling and fined him five million dong (US$320), a consular official in the southern business capital said.

The 46-year-old graphic designer was arrested at the city's Tan Son Nhat airport on April 23 last year when he and his Vietnamese wife tried to board a flight to Malaysia.

Customs officials discovered US$51,000 in his suitcase, US$45,000 above the legal amount of money allowed to be taken out of the country.

The court confiscated US$45,000 of his money.