3 Vietnamese footballers prosecuted for organizing gambling

The People's Supreme Procuracy of Vietnam has just prosecuted three members of the Under-23 national soccer team, who have been arrested for match fixing at the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for organizing gambling, local newspaper People reported Monday.

According to the local investigation agency, the players, namely striker Pham Van Quyen, and midfielders Huynh Quoc Anh and Le Bat Hieu, have agreed to receive money from bookmakers to rig some matches at the SEA Games in the Philippines last year.

In 2005, they were prosecuted for the charge of gambling only. Quyen and Anh were released last weekend after nearly four months of being detained.

The procuracy is also expected to prosecute three others from the team, namely midfielder Chau Le Phuoc Vinh, and defenders Le Van Truong and Nguyen Hai Lam, for organizing gambling. Earlier, the players, who performed under their capacity at some matches at the SEA Games, were prosecuted for gambling.

Early this year, 19 out of 60 local referees and team officials, who had allegedly involved in match-fixing over the past two years, had been prosecuted and five of them have been detained.

Source: Xinhua