Consequently, Vinh is accused of abusing his power to commit the offence under the Article No.365 of the Criminal Code 2015, informed the police in Phu Tho province.
Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh, former head of the General Department of Police. Source: VnExpress.
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Vinh was awarded with the title of People's Armed Force Hero and member of the 12th National Assembly. He hold the position of the head of the General Department of Police since December 2014 before his retirement on April 2017.
Vinh is also the highest profile police officer to date being arrested following the intensification of the investigation.
Last May, police in the northern province of Phu Tho has unraveled a multi-million-dollar online gambling ring. After further investigation, the police has arrested two major tech businessmen.
Phan Sao Nam, founder and former chairman of the board at major online communications firm VTC, and Nguyen Van Duong, chairman of the board of high-tech security development company CNC, were later identified as the masterminds behind the gambling racket.
The two had been operating tech businesses and importing technical devices before they switched to online gambling, police said.
Using their expertise, they set up a system where players bet money via an online game using cards issued by CNC. Since its launch in April 2015, the system has drawn over 14 million players and bets worth around VND9.6 trillion (US$419.7 million), in which Nam and Duong claimed a profit worth VND3.2 trillion (US$140 million).
Hoa, as the Head of Cybercrime Division, had failed to shut down the syndicate after uncovering it, and instead offered his protection, police said. Consequently, the Vietnamese President stripped Hoa of his "People's Police" title before being arrested.
Investigations of the gambling case will be widened to punish those involved in accordance with the law, informed the Ministry of Public Security.
The investigation found the transnational gambling ring had more than 14 million user accounts and around eight million frequent users. As at March 14, 83 people have been prosecuted, while police have seized more than VND1 trillion (US$44 million) and suspect that a further US$3.6 million has been transferred overseas.
