Another police director general mixed up in Rikvip gambling ring

The former director general of the General Department of Police was arrested for his involvement in the online gambling ring Rikvip

The documents to prosecute Phan Van Vinh have been sent to the Phu Tho People's Procuracy.

Vinh is prosecuted for the charge of "abusing power or position in performance of official duties" (Article 356 of the Criminal Code 2015).

One month ago, after prosecuting former director general of MoPS' High-Technology Department (C50), Nguyen Thanh Hoa, for involvement in the multi-million-dollar gambling ring, Vinh had to work with the investigation agency numerous times.

Phan Van Vinh was appointed as director general of the General Department of Police from December 2014 to April 2017, when he retired. He had directed the successful investigation of several notorious cases.

During yesterday evening, policemen arrived to Vinh's at Han Thuyen Street in the northern province of Nam Dinh. After four hours, the inspection was finished at 12 AM today, April 7. Several packages of documents have been seized by the investigation agency.

Vinh’s prosecution is part of the expanding Rikvip gambling case that shut down Vietnam’s largest organised gambling ring. The case is being investigated by Phu Tho's public security agency.

As of March 14, the agency had prosecuted 83 defendants, including several high-profile state officials and individuals, including former C50 director general Nguyen Thanh Hoa (charged for organising gambling), and Nguyen Van Duong, former chairman of high-tech security development company CNC, and Phan Sao Nam, founder and former chairman of VTC Online, as the masterminds behind the gambling ring.

This is the largest gambling ring ever to be discovered in Vietnam, with 43 million accounts, 14 million users, and over VND9.54 trillion ($420 million) in circulation. This case also involved telecommunications networks and game publishers in Vietnam.

MoPS revealed that the total amount poured into online payment portals was VND9.583 trillion ($422.2 million). Of this, nearly VND9.3 trillion ($409.5 million) came from telecommunications cards and game cards, capturing 97 per cent. VND168 billion ($7.4 million) came from banks. Direct gambling money through dealerships was initially VND5.631 trillion ($248 million).