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Nine people have been sentenced in Vietnam over a high-profile
gambling and bribery scandal that led a senior government minister
to resign in 2006.
Former transport ministry official Bui Tien Dung was jailed for
13 years, seven others for up to seven years and one received a
suspended sentence.
They were accused of embezzling funds to place illegal bets on
football, although Dung said he used family cash.
Corruption is seen as a major problem in the one-party communist
state.
Speaking in Hanoi on Tuesday, World Bank President Robert
Zoellick warned of the need to tackle corruption and improve
transparency.
Football Bets
Dung, the former director of a Ministry of Transport
infrastructure body known as PMU18, was sentenced in Hanoi
People's Court to six years' jail for illegally gambling $760,000
(£380,000) on European football games between 2005 and
2006.
He received a further seven-year sentence for bribery over
attempts to cover up the bets, said presiding Judge Ngo Thi
Yen.
Dung had told the court that he had gambled family savings due
to his "unhappy marital life" and "to kill time," Vietnamese state
media reported.
Gambling is illegal in Vietnam.
Six others - including state officials, former police officers
and businessmen - were jailed for three to seven years on gambling
and bribery charges. One received a two-year suspended sentence for
gambling.
The case centred on allegations the PMU18 officials had
embezzled money to bet on football games.
"Challenges ahead"
The scandal led to the resignation of former Transport Minister
Dao Dinh Binh in April 2006.
His deputy, Nguyen Viet Tien, was arrested in connection with
the case but has not been charged.
Ministerial resignations are extremely rare in Vietnam and Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung launched a major anti-corruption push
after the scandal broke.
The PMU18 agency builds infrastructure such as roads and bridges
with foreign aid loans, and police are still investigating whether
that cash was used in the betting.
Japan, the EU and the World Bank are amongst donors who have
previously provided funds to PMU18, but an internal World Bank
inquiry found no evidence of fraud and corruption in projects it
had funded.
Speaking on a visit to Vietnam, Mr Zoellick described the
country's efforts to tackle poverty as a "tremendous success" that
could serve as a model for other countries.
Mr Zoellick said the country's financial progress was a result
of its "ability to leverage the openness of the international
trading system". Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation this
year.
But he warned of the need improve governance, transparency, the
rule of law and financial systems, saying the country had "big
challenges ahead".
Source:
BBC
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