Former Ho Chi Minh City prosecutor arrested for involvement in Vietnamese mafia
A former Ho Chi Minh City prosecutor was arrested for allegedly paying off police to help Vietnam's most notorious underworld gang, state-controlled media reported Friday. Former prosecutor Nguyen Van Thanh was accused of brokering bribes and taken into police custody Wednesday after he was implicated by the gang's No. 2 leader, the Labor newspaper said.
Nguyen Van Tho allegedly told police he gave Thanh more than 1 billion dong (US$65,000; euro 50,489) to bribe police officers into altering reports filed about two gang murders committed in 2000, it said. Tho was arrested in August after evading police for nearly three years. He is the nephew of Truong Van Cam, or Nam Cam, the former kingpin of Ho Chi Minh City's mafia who was the star of the communist country's biggest-ever criminal trial last year. Nam Cam was convicted of murder and bribery and was executed by firing squad in June.
The prosecutor was earlier dismissed from his position and stripped of Communist Party membership for his involvement in tampering with evidence to help another gang member escape prosecution back in 1991, the newspaper said. Nam Cam was arrested in December 2001, leading to a trial last year with 155 defendants, including police officers and high-ranking government officials. Four of those associates also were executed. It was unclear when Thanh and Tho would be brought to trial.
The Associated Press - November 5, 2004
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