Journalists Arrested In Vietnam For Alleged False Gambling Report

Two journalists that helped to uncover illegal gambling that was taken place on soccer games within the Vietnamese government, have been arrested. They have not yet been charged, but authorities arrested them for writing false information.

Ministry employees were at the center of the scandal. Several government officials were convicted in the scandal. Nine people in total were convicted.

European soccer matches were the games being gambled on. Millions of dollars were said to have been bet, and with members of government involved, the journalists reported aggressively on the story.

Nguyen Van Hai and Nguyen Viet Chien were both arrested by officials. The papers they work for, Tuoi Tre, and Thanh Nien, claim that there employees did nothing wrong. They also feel this is another attempt at the government trying to control what is distributed to the general public.

One of the government officials who has been convicted was Bui Tien Dung, the Director of a Ministry of Transportation. He was arrested for gambling millions of dollars on European soccer matches. He eventually received thirteen years in prison last August.

Since the arrests and convictions, authorities have questioned dozens of journalists to find out where the newspapers received their information.

May 13, 2008
Posted By Susan Torres
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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