Appeal trial on trillion-VND online gambling case slated for March 5
The high-level People’s Court in Hanoi has announced that it will open the appeal trial on an online gambling case involving huge amount of money mounting to trillions of dong and two former generals in the public security sector on March 5.
The defendants at the first instance court (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The high-levelPeople’s Court in Hanoi has announced that it will open the appeal trial on anonline gambling case involving huge amount of money mounting to trillions ofdong and two former generals in the public security sector on March 5.
The trial, held at the appeal ofthe Phu Tho People’s Procuracy and defendants, will try 83 defendants over acourse of eight days at the People’s Court of the northern province of Phu Tho. The defendants will not includetwo former police generals Phan Van Vinh and Nguyen Thanh Hoa, who did notappeal against their sentences of 9 years and 10 years in prison, respectively,for abusing position and power while performing duty.
Two other defendants in thefirst-instance trial, Phan Sao Nam (former Chairmanof the Board of Directors of the VTC Online Telecommunications Co. (VTC Online) and Nguyen Van Duong (former Chairman of the Members Council of the Hi-tech SecurityDevelopment and Investment Co. (CNC) did not lodge appeal but they willstill be tried at the appeal court at the request of the procuracy. At thefirst instance trial, Nam was given five years and Duong 10 years on twocharges of organising gambling and laundering money.
The first instance trial on the casewas held from November 12-30, 2018 by the Phu Tho People’s Court involving 92defendants.
After that, the Phu Tho People’sProcuracy appealed the verdict, asking the high-level Hanoi court to reviewthree issues, including the application of aggravatingcircumstances to 27 defendants and extenuating circumstances to 36 defendants.The procuracy also appealed against the confiscation of money used in gamblingof 43 defendants.
Besides, 83 defendants filedappeals or petitions against the verdict.
The online gambling ring through the card gameRikvip/Tip.club was led by Phan Sao Nam and Nguyen Van Duong.
The ring included 25 tier-1 outlets, 5,877 tier-2 outlets and42,956,718 gambling accounts. It was found to have gained more than 9.85trillion VND (428.2 million USD) in revenue from online gambling.-VNA
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The defendants at the first instance court (Photo: VNA) 
