The detained general director of the Project Management Unit No. 18 (PMU18) under Vietnam's Transport Ministry, has used his own money and cash offered by organizations to make bets via international soccer betting rings, local newspaper People's Police reported Thursday.

The detained general director named Bui Tien Dung has admitted he made a total bet of some 1.5 million U.S. dollars on about 40 international soccer matches, with the biggest single bet amounting to 268,000 dollars, from February to October in 2005.

He also admitted the money came from three sources: his own savings, loans when he mortgaged two houses, and cash offered by organizations having working contacts with the PMU18 which is in charge of implementing and overseeing major transport projects nationwide.

However, he said that he didn't remember who offered the cash. Local investigators will probe into the origin of the cash. They assumed that Dung had made a total bet of 2.6 million dollars, not just 1.5 million dollars as he admitted, the newspaper said.

Dung, detained in January, has been prosecuted for four charges, namely gambling, intentionally acting counter to state regulations in economic management, giving and receiving bribes.

Local media have recently said Dung's underlings had attempted to use some 500,000 dollars to bribe some influential figures so that they would campaign for slighter charges against him.

Source: Xinhua