A court in northern Vietnam has sent two former police generals to prison for offering protection to a multimillion-dollar online gaming ring.
According to the Associated Press, Phan Van Vinh, onetime national police chief, and Nguyen Thanh Hoa, former head of the high-tech crimes unit, were sentenced to nine and 10 years respectively after being convicted of abuse of power at the end of a three-week trial before the People’s Court in Phu Tho Province.
The case, which involved a total of 92 defendants, is part of a larger crackdown on graft in the Communist nation, the AP reported.
Two of the operation’s ringleaders, Nguyen Van Duong and Phan San Nam, were sentenced to 10 and five years for running the operation and also for money laundering. The online enterprise ran from April 2015 until August 2017 and generated $425 million in revenues including $200 million in illegal profits, according to the government.
“Vinh’s acts have caused discontent among the public, reduced the reputation of the police force and people’s trust,” the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, quoting the court’s statement when the verdict was handed down. “Vinh had intentionally covered up the crimes committed by Duong and his accomplices.”
Vinh, who was general director of the General Department of Police under the Ministry of Public Security until his 2016 retirement, was arrested in July. Hoa was arrested in June.
During the hearing, prosecutors say Duong told investigators that he bribed Vinh with $2.8 million and a $7,000 Rolex watch and gave Hoa $936,000, state media reported.
After the arrests, according to Reuters, Vietnam set up a telephone hotline where people can report alleged police corruption. “Reports will be discounted if providers do not declare their full name, address and telephone number, or supply insufficient, vague or unsubstantiated information,” said the Ministry of Public Security. “They will also be discounted if callers insult the officers on duty.”
