Vietnam arrests two senior football officials over match-fixing
HANOI - Two leading football officials including the assistant to the national coach have been arrested, in widening investigations into a match-fixing scandal roiling the hugely popular sport in the country.
Nguyen Thanh Vinh and a FIFA referee, Truong The Toan, were arrested in the morning, said Tran Quoc Tuan, general secretary of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). Vinh was assistant to the Vietnam national team's Austrian coach, Alfred Riedl, until his suspension in early October.
The two as well as 22 other referees and three heads of the first division club Dong A Thep Pomina have also been suspended pending investigations, another VFF official said.
"The decision to temporarily suspend them from work was made after a VFF meeting Wednesday," the official said, refusing to be named.
"As soon as police investigators come up with a final decision, VFF will approve punitive measures for these people."
Many of the referees were earlier reported to have turned themselves in for investigation and returned bribe money they had received, as football bosses launched a belated attempt to try and clean up the game.
The first to be arrested in the scandal was Luong Trung Viet, a national professional-level referee.
He and his three assistants were accused of taking 20 million dong (nearly 1,300 dollars) from the Dong A club to fix a match in April.
The domestic V-League has been marred by allegations of corruption and match-fixing among players since its debut 2000-2001 season. VFF has promised it would resolutely clean up the sport and seek to win back the confidence of football-mad Vietnamese.
Last month, Asian Football Confederation chief Peter Velappan urged Vietnam to pursue its anti-corruption campaign so the sport could grow in the communist nation.
Agence France Presse - November 10, 2005.
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