Referee arrested on bribery charges
HANOI - Another soccer referee has been arrested on bribery charges as part of a widening investigation into match fixing in Vietnam, a senior police official said Thursday. Referee Le Van Tu was arrested Wednesday, deputy national police chief Cao Ngoc Oanh said.
Police have also launched investigations of six other people, including Tran Manh Cuong, assistant coach of the East Asia-Pomina Steel team, for alleged involvement in the scandal, Oanh said
He dismissed an earlier report that Cuong was arrested Wednesday.
Cuong had told police that he was ordered by head coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh to give bribes worth 130 million Vietnamese dong ($8,200) to Tu and his three assistants days after East Asia-Pomina qualified to Vietnam's top flight V-League, state media reported.
In August, police arrested East Asia-Pomina managing director Vu Tien Thanh and referee Luong Trung Viet for alleged involvement in match fixing.
More than 10 teams in the communist country's V-League and first division, and over 20 referees have been implicated in match fixing, state media have reported.
The Associated Press - October 20, 2005.
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