 |
| Three of the defendants in court: (from L) Dinh Van Muoi, Nguyen Thanh Leo and Tran Van Tan |
Tan was charged with gambling and appropriating assets while Nguyen Thanh Leo, deputy director of the Soc Trang city Department of Transport, and Dinh Van Muoi, former chairman of the city Party Committee’s Commission for Inspection, were charge with gambling.
Leo got 5 years while Muoi received 4 years imprisonment. The lightest sentence, 2 years, was given to Ngo Hue Phan, who was running a gambling-den.
Two other defendants, Nguyen Thanh Hung, 50, who was a loan-shark and a gambling broker in Soc Trang, and his son Nguyen Thanh Truyen, were tried for appropriating assets. They received 12 years in prison each.
The court ordered confiscations of VND1.5 billion (US$72,000) from Tan, VND435 million from Muoi, VND400 million from Phan, and VND90 million from Truyen. These amounts had been amassed by the defendants through gambling.
The court also made null and void the contracts for sale of three plots of land Leo had borrowed from others to pay to Tan, who later sold the lands to others. The court ordered the lands be returned to their legal owners.
The court did not consider Leo’s remaining gambling debts of over VND20 billion owed to Tan, since the amount had not been paid in practice.
On December 22, 2011, police in Soc Trang caught Leo and Tan playing Chinese chess for money at the Thy Tai 2 billiard café in the city. The police seized VND56.4 million ($2,700) and promissory notes from the two men.
According to the indictment of the prosecutor’s office, between late 2008 and late 2011, Leo and Tan played Chinese chess at different locations in Soc Trang for money, VND50,000 at the start and then up to VND5 million, VND50 million, VND1 billion and finally VND5 billion ($238,000) per game.
By the time he was arrested in late 2011, Leo had lost a total of VND24.1 billion ($1,155 million), along with plots of land worth more than VND16 billion, to Tan.
Due to Leo’s insolvency, Tan had had Hung and Truyen threaten Leo, forcing him to repay his debts.
Leo had also played Chinese chess with Muoi since June 2009. At first they played for lottery tickets, at a rate of 50-100 tickets per game, but they later played for money. Leo finally lost VND570 million to Muoi.
Muoi told the court that he had confessed the guilt under duress, but the prosecutor at court pointed out grounds and evidence to reject Muoi’s statement.