Vietnamese Government loses $8,000,000 to Football Bets
Sports gambling has become a huge problem in Vietnam, but this might be the worst case yet. Various Government officials and civil servants had gambled aid funding on bets of mainly European Football matches.
The end losses? An estimated $8,197,485 in government funds.
Both President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai are expected to retire after Vietnam’s 10 National Congress ends on Tuesday, October 30th.
(President Tran Duc Luong on the left and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on the right)
The whole scandal was revealed when a gambler named Bui Tien Dung, who was also a former part of the Ministry of Transport, confessed. Another Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh resigned two weeks ago due to gambling problems as well.
Since then, a computer office log was found to have 200 Ministry of Transport employees waging government funds. Mr. Dung even had $11,477,838 in savings from all of this before he was jailed.
By Robbie C. on 25-10-2007
Comment by darkwing duck
October 25th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
The whole scandal was revealed when a gambler named Bui Tien Dung, who was also a former part of the Ministry of Transport, so the guy talked because he got fired.
wtf
Comment by Trish
October 25th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
In the US Bush would announce a News Confrence and say that he did a hell of a job and give the guy a folksy nickname.
Comment by Arizona
October 25th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
This is roughly $500.00 U.S. Dollars. I would spend that on a weekend getaway or car insurance for a year.
Comment by Vince
October 25th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Get your fact straight before you post. UK£ 4 000 000 is equivalent to 8.19400 million U.S. dollars!
Source:
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=%C2%A34%2C000%2C000+to+usd&btnG=Google+Search
Compare this figure to how much a single Vietnamese makes in a year: GDP – per capita (PPP) $3,100
Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html#Econ
It’s even more ridiculous to see the money he spent on gambling when the money is suppose to use for aid purpose!
I’m a Vietnamese myself living in the U.S (family left after the fall of Saigon) and it doesn’t surprise me a bit to see this kind of story comes to light. It’s funny I see more and more children of these crooks being sent to U.S for study abroad. You have to wonder where the money come from. Oh and not to mention they call people like me “traitor” but welcome the $$$ coming in the country.
Thanks weirdasiannews for this nice article.
Comment by Casual Adventurer
October 25th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
The ones who get caught are the stupid crooks…… Never underestimate how clever some of these people can be, but please don’t assume they represent the whole community.
I work on and manage aid and development projects in Vietnam. Managing corruption, catching the criminals and making sure the $Dollars$ go where they are supposed to is a never ending job for International organisations and good, hard working Vietnamese alike.
All this is compounded by impossibly low salaries for Government officials, the naivety of international organisations and the clever dedication of the criminals.
But don’t be too harsh on Vietnam. I have worked on Projects where poor farmers contribute their own funds to improve their communities. They don’t want charity, just someone to show them how to access opportunities. Their efforts are what makes this land inspirational.
Comment by arizona
October 26th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
You are right sir. I was using the Vietnam Dong for the conversion. to USD
Comment by Linzy
December 30th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Totally expected. The Vietnamese government is so corrupted over there. The economy is doing poorly compared to other countries and you have people with “bought” degrees holding high positions in the government like chairman of commerce and they never read a single textbook in that field in their life!
And these kind of people are running a country!
The rich kids of these officials get to go into all the good schools and colleges because they can “afford it” and the people’s taxes go to pay their study abroad tuition (because damn well they’re not getting no financial aid in the US).
All the poor, smart kids can’t even get into good colleges there without paying a high “application fee” (equivalent to tuition) to the interviewer to ensure acceptance. It’s really sad. Instead of gambling, they could use government money to fund their people’s education so they can get good jobs and open big companies and bring money to the country. Simple economics.
Comment by chingkulingkang
December 11th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Total losers