Illegal Gambling Ring Disbanded In Vietnam
Police in Vietnam have announced arrests have been made over a massive money-laundering scheme that included illegal online gambling.
Illegal gambling in Vietnam has been uncovered by Da Nang police. © Pixabay
Key Facts:
- Da Nang officers made five arrests over the huge criminal investigation, which ran from 2022
- More than US$1 billion is thought to have been involved in the scheme
- Bank employees were among those accused of money laundering
- Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan was jailed for life last year following money laundering charges
Reports say more than US$1 billion in illegally obtained money was brought into the country as a result of the operation.
It has now been shut down thanks to a long operation that led to five arrests being made.
Bank employees were part of an illegal gang that laundered money that had been made through illegal gambling operations outside of Vietnam.
The news comes only a short time after Truong My Lan, a billionaire Vietnamese property tycoon, was sentenced to life in jail after being charged with money laundering.
Operation Details
Police in Vietnam say the money laundering operation involved more than 600 corporate bank accounts.
These were linked to 187 different businesses, with identification cards and bank seals forged to help to set the companies up in the country.
Accounts were used to launder money made from illegal online betting.
Online gambling is against the law in Vietnam, but estimates say that the black market is worth as much as VND250 trillion.
Some 122 fake seals were recovered by the police in Da Nang, along with original copies of 40 business registration certificates.
The local police force in Da Nang described the operation, which ran between 2022 and 2024, as the city’s biggest-ever money laundering case.
The coastal city of Da Nang in Vietnam is primarily known for its thriving tourism industry.
How Does Truong My Lan Fit In?
Da Nang police have not yet officially linked the US$1 billion money laundering case to Lan.
However, with the billionaire Vietnamese property entrepreneur currently serving a prison sentence after money laundering charges, it has been suggested she was involved.
But the businesswoman, who faces the death penalty, is battling against the sentence and will have an appeal heard.
The 68-year-old founder of real estate development group Vạn Thịnh Phát Group used fake loan applications to embezzle more than US$12.5 billion.
That huge sum of money that was taken from the Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank made it the largest corruption scandal in Vietnam’s history.
Vietnam has been working hard to crack down on financial crime, with the South East Asia country known for its widespread corruption problems over the years.
