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A Ho Chi Minh City court Wednesday sentenced 24 defendants, including three Malaysians who are still on the run, for organizing and participating in illegal gambling.

Lim Leong Seng, Goh Ming Huat, and Chan Chee Sing, all from Malaysia, received five, four, and three years respectively for organizing gambling, the court ruled Wednesday. The Malaysian trio fled Vietnam after charges were laid last year and they were placed under house arrest. The Vietnamese police have been working with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) but have not been able to locate them. Vietnamese Le Anh Tuan was jailed for three years, Vietnamese Le Thi Hong Nhung two and a half years, and Vietnamese-American Hua Quan Timmy six months and 22 days, also for organizing gambling, the court said. The other 18 Vietnamese defendants, found guilty of illegal gambling, received sentences ranging from one-year suspensions to two and a half years in jail. All 24 defendants were fined between VND10 million-50 million (US$572-2,860) each. According to the indictment, the six people charged with organizing gambling had connived to lure Vietnamese citizens to casinos at three luxury hotels in HCMC between April 2006 and May 2007. Vietnamese law prohibits Vietnamese citizens from gambling but allows hotels rated four-stars and above to operate casinos for people holding foreign passports. The police shut down the operation in May 2007 after raiding three clubs: De Palace Club at the Saigon Food Center in District 1, the Victoria Club at the Duxton Saigon Hotel in District 1, and the OV Club at the Equatorial Hotel in District 5. All of the clubs were run by Malaysian businessman Yap Kim San, who still hasn’t been charged. The court Wednesday also called for continued investigations into Yap’s role in the case. Reported by Le Nga

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The “notorious” Van Thanh 2 Bridge opened to traffic last Thursday Ho Chi Minh City residents will have a new vantage point to the Lunar New Year’s Eve firework displays when the Khanh Hoi Bridge opens to traffic a day earlier.

The new bridge will connect District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street with District 1’s Ton Duc Thang Street when it opens on January 24. At 167 meters long and 22 meters wide, the bridge will be able to handle 30-ton trucks and would meet the demand for transporting goods from HCMC’s Saigon River to southeastern provinces, said Vuong Hoang Thanh, deputy head of the East-West Highway and Water Environment Project Management Unit. The unit is tasked with overseeing construction of the bridge. Another bridge belonging to the East-West Highway project and linking districts 1 and 4, the Calmette Bridge, is also set to open next Tuesday, Thanh said. The new Calmette overpass includes an intersection of six streets. Two major sections from District 1’s Calmette Street and District 4’s Doan Van Bo Street are scheduled to be completed on Tuesday, while the remaining sections connecting to the East-West Highway and Thu Thiem underground tunnel will be completed by the year-end. Thanh said the commission of the two new bridges would significantly ease traffic congestion at the city center. ‘Notorious bridge’ also ready The controversy-mired Van Thanh 2 Bridge also opened to traffic last Thursday after being rebuilt for more than a year. The bridge, on Binh Thanh District’s Nguyen Huu Canh Street, is also expected to resolve traffic gridlocks from HCMC to neighboring provinces in a big way, an official said. After being put into operation in 2002, it was found soon after that the bridge was sinking on both sides. In 2007, the city approved a 10-month repair project costing VND141 billion (current US$8 million) to upgrade the road on both sides. The Tan Thuan Bridge 1 in District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street also opened to traffic last Thursday. Another bridge-opening in the offing is that of the Nguyen Van Cu Bridge over Ben Nghe Canal that connects districts 1, 4, 5 and 8. The section linking districts 1 and 5 with District 4 will open very shortly, while that connecting districts 4 and 8 is scheduled for completion soon after the Tet holidays. The bridge will ease traffic congestion on the Nguyen Tri Phuong, Y and Cha Va bridges. Reported by Phuong Thanh

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