HANOI: A court in Vietnam handed jail sentences on Wednesday (Nov 12) to two former local officials who wagered millions of dollars under false foreign names, in a closely-watched gambling trial, state media reported.
The pair were part of an illegal gambling ring run by South Koreans out of a swanky Hanoi hotel and comprising more than 140 people, prosecutors had alleged.
The outfit was said to include former government and communist party officials, entertainers and businesspeople who placed bets totalling more than US$106 million.
The slot, roulette and baccarat machines at the gilded King Club in the capital's five-star Pullman Hotel were licensed to serve foreigners but not Vietnamese citizens, who are largely barred from gambling by law.
However, prosecutors alleged that Vietnamese gamblers entering the club were issued membership cards with fake foreign names allowing them to play.
Ho Dai Dung, former vice-chairman of the Phu Tho Provincial People's Committee who wagered more than $7 million over 95 sessions, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail, the Dan Tri news site said.
Ngo Ngoc Duc, a former party secretary for Hoa Binh City who bet $4.2 million, received a three-year sentence, it reported.
Vietnamese police were still seeking the arrest the alleged mastermind, South Korean national Kim In Sung whose company leased the casino, according to state media reports.
He is accused of fleeing back to South Korea with more than $9 million of the luckless gamblers' funds. Vietnam's public security ministry has issued a wanted notice for him.
The court sentenced four of his accomplices -- three of them South Korean -- to between two and four years Wednesday, while another received a suspended sentence.
More than 100 others accused in the case have yet to be sentenced.
The gamblers won back just 0.22 per cent of the total wagered, according to state media. - AFP
