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Vietnam to strengthen combating soccer bet during World Cup
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-02 13:53

Vietnam will intensify fight against soccer gambles during the Football World Cup Finals 2006 slated for June 9-July 10, local newspaper People's Army reported Friday.

The Police General Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has asked police of provinces and cities nationwide to tighten control over activities of suspected big bookmakers and inter-provincial and transnational soccer betting rings, and prepare human forces and technical facilities for the fight.

Regarding the case of an official at Vietnam's Transport Ministry gambling via an international soccer betting ring, the Vietnamese Investigation Agency said Bui Tien Dung, general director of the ministry's Project Management Unit No. 18 (PMU18) spent over 2.6 million U.S. dollars and 36 million Vietnamese dong (nearly U.S.$2,300 ) on betting from September to December in 2005.

Dung, who was detained in January for gambling, and then prosecuted for four charges, namely gambling, implementing deliberated wrongdoing, giving and receiving bribe, lost most of the bets and won two times to the tune of 151,500 dollars.

The Vietnamese government has proposed the National Assembly relieve Dung's superior, Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh, who has already resigned, partly for his slack responsibility for the PMU 18 scandal. Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Viet Tien was arrested for his mismanagement and his responsibility for the scandal.

Like other kinds of gambling, except for casinos designated for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, soccer betting is now illegal in Vietnam. Dozens of local bettors and bookmakers are detained during major national and international soccer tournaments every year.