There are insufficient grounds for the Hanoi Superior People’s Court to reduce the prison sentence of Phan Sao Nam, former chairman of local online game firm VTC Online, who played a key role in a multimillion-dollar online gambling ring, according to the Hanoi Superior People’s Procuracy.

Phan Sao Nam, former chairman of local online game firm VTC Online, is escorted to the courtroom

The trial has been examining 83 defendants over a course of eight days at the People’s Court of Phu Tho Province in northern Vietnam since March 5, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The defendants did not include Phan Van Vinh, 64, former head of the General Police Department and Nguyen Thanh Hoa, 61, ex-director of the High-tech Crime Division, both under the Ministry of Public Security, because they did not appeal their sentences of nine years and 10 years in prison, respectively, for abuse of power.

Two other defendants in the first-instance trial held from November 12 to 30, Phan Sao Nam, 40, former chairman of VTC Online, and Nguyen Van Duong, 44, former chairman of Hi-Tech Security Development and Investment Co., Ltd. also did not file appeals, but are still being tried at the appeal court at the request of the People’s Court of Phu Tho Province.

Since the ruling of the first-instance decision, the local procuracy appealed against the verdict, asking the Hanoi Superior People’s Court to review three issues, including applying aggravated circumstances to 27 defendants and extenuating circumstances to 36 others. The procuracy also appealed against the confiscation of money used for gambling by 43 defendants.

Lawyer Hoang Huong, who is defending Nam, told the higher court on March 8 that the lower court did not apply extenuating circumstances, namely voluntarily relieving the consequences of unlawful acts, to his client.

The former businessman was earlier sentenced to two years in prison for organizing gambling and three years for laundering money, taking the total sentence to five years.

Upon the first-instance trial decision, according to the lawyer, the People’s Procuracy of Phu Tho Province lodged an appeal, of which two suggestions are related to his client. The first one is to call for the application of the extenuating circumstance, while the second is to consider the removal of the aggravated circumstance, that is, organized crime.

Nam has paid back more than VND1.3 trillion (US$56 million), equivalent to over 90% of the illegal profits taken in by the ring, which should be considered as an extenuating circumstance, the lawyer said.

The lawyer noted that the new circumstances of the case, which were brought out by the provincial prosecution, are not beneficial to Nam. The other extenuating circumstances include the fact that his client built schools for students in the Central Highlands region, as well as his grandfather’s meritorious service during the country’s wars.

A representative of the Hanoi Superior People’s Procuracy said that the new extenuating circumstances for Nam are reasonable. However, the total sentence of five years is already light, so there are no grounds to reduce the punishment.

The higher prosecution also suggested the panel of judges considers a reduction in prison sentences for only 16 defendants. The higher court is expected to make its final judgment in the case next Tuesday, March 12.

The online gambling ring, operating the card game Rikvip/Tip.Club, was led by Nam and Duong, with former top police officials Vinh and Hoa participating in a cover-up.

The ring included 25 tier-1 outlets, more than 5,800 tier-2 outlets and roughly 43 million gambling accounts. It was found to have earned more than VND9.85 trillion (US$428.2 million) in revenue from online gambling.

SGT