Vietnam: former police officer jailed for accepting bribes to overlook gambling

Luong Tien Quan has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Vietnam.- The Khanh Hoa People’s Court has sentenced Luong Tien Quan, a former deputy head of a criminal police department in Nha Trang, Vietnam, to four years in prison for accepting bribes to ignore illegal gambling at a poker club.

Nguyen Minh Hai, the owner of the club, was sentenced to seven and a half years and sixteen other people received sentences ranging from 15 months to nine years for charges related to organising gambling, gambling, and bribery.

According to Vietnam Express, the court heard that Hai and his associates had paid VND420m (US$16,500) to Quan to avoid police intervention. The poker club, located in the tourist city of Nha Trang, catered mainly to foreign gamblers and had been operating unchecked for several years.

Between 2017 and 2020, Hai also opened poker tables at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, managing them with the help of Chinese and Cambodian partners. Hai was responsible for handling external relations. In September 2020, facing potential police inspections, Hai bribed Quan to avoid police action. From June 2022 to February 2023, the illegal poker operations generated around VND6bn in revenue.