Vietnam referees, officials jailed for match fixing

AFP - 2 July 2007 12:35

Former Vietnam´s U-23 striker Pham Van Quyen arrives at Ho Chi Minh City´s People´s Court to stand trial, January 2007. A court in Vietnam gave jail terms of up to seven years to referees and officials after finding them guilty of taking and giving bribes to fix matches.

HANOI (AFP) - A court in Vietnam on Monday gave jail terms of up to seven years to referees and officials after finding them guilty of taking and giving bribes to fix matches, a court official said.

Out of the nine defendants, four were given between four years and seven years in prison, including FIFA ranked referee Truong The Toan, the official from Hanoi's People's Court told AFP, refusing to be named.

The five others were handed between two years and three years suspended sentences, he added. Among them was another FIFA ranked referee involved in the scam, Le Van Tu.

The referees and officials were charged with accepting hundreds of millions of dong (tens of thousands of dollars) in the 2004-2005 V-League seasons to be less tough on some clubs.

It took longer for the court, which had been scheduled to end after a two day hearing last week, to announce the verdict because the case was complicated, the official earlier said.

Allegations of corruption and match fixing among players and referees has marred Vietnam's domestic V-League since its debut in 2000-2001.

In January, two former footballers were given three and four years jail terms for fixing an under-23 match against Myanmar at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, in return for cash.

Their six accomplices, including star striker Pham Van Quyen, were given suspended prison sentences.