CNC is a "secret company" of the General Department of Police but everyone knows it

In the verdict announced on November 30 when trying former Director General of the General Department of Police Phan Van Vinh, former Director of the Department of High-Tech Crime Prevention (C50) Nguyen Thanh Hoa and 90 defendants, the People's Court of Phu Tho province recommended that the Ministry of Public Security have a mechanism to select and strictly manage the activities of professional companies, avoiding taking advantage of this advantage to commit illegal acts.

The above petition originated from the fact that the group of defendants, masterminds Nguyen Van Duong (former chairman of CNC) and Phan Sao Nam (former chairman of VTC Online), took advantage of being a front company to build an online gambling ring with a revenue of tens of thousands of billions of VND.

The first instance verdict determined that Duong played the most important role, as the mastermind and leader. During the interrogation, Phan Sao Nam admitted that the greatest value in cooperating with Duong was because CNC was labeled as a front company of C50.

Throughout the operation of the network, as well as the 13-day trial at the People's Court of Phu Tho province, CNC stood out as the "trump card" that determined the survival of this criminal organization. It was also because of the "label" of a professional company that former Director General of the General Department of Police Phan Van Vinh and former Director of Department C50 had an excuse to prevent many agencies from investigating CNC's signs of wrongdoing.

The formation of this professional unit stemmed from the decision of the Ministry of Public Security in 2010 when it allowed C50 to establish a front company for the purpose of infiltrating and researching high-tech crimes. At the end of 2011, through the introduction of a leader of the Ministry of Public Security, Duong established CNC company. At that time, Duong was signed a memorandum by the Director of C50 Nguyen Thanh Hoa, authorizing him to represent 20% of the capital of this department at CNC.

At the trial, the person who signed the decision to recognize CNC as a front company for C50, former Director General of the General Department of Police Phan Van Vinh, stated that the professional company of the police force must always be kept secret, so he did not want to reveal the details. Besides the Director General, only two people knew about this company: Director of C50, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Police in charge of C50.

But the reality is the opposite. Dozens of statements from defendants and witnesses show that Duong always openly revealed his "secret identity". That was a solid foundation for Nam and many others to "feel secure in committing crimes".

In court, many defendants who were first-level card game distributors testified that Hoang Thanh Trung (who is on the run) had informed them that CNC was a front company for C50. Therefore, the 25 first-level dealers reassured their "henchmen" that they could operate with peace of mind because they had "a big force backing them up".

Pham Tuan Anh, former head of the technical department of the Payment Center - CNC Company, who helped Duong build and illegally operate the paygate247 payment gateway to serve the organization of online gambling, also confessed that he knew about CNC as a front from the day he started working through information from many people. Tuan Anh was later confirmed by Duong and told to keep it a secret.

In court, many police officers from other units also confirmed that they had known CNC was a professional company for a long time because this information had been spread like a "lucky charm".

Secret company but public launch

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, former head of Department 4 of C50, one of the witnesses at the trial, said that at the end of 2011, she was assigned by the leaders of C50 to attend the launching ceremony of the CNC front company at a luxury hotel in Hanoi. That day, Ms. Hang remembers that many department leaders attended, and there was even a sign hanging up announcing the launch of the front company.

Not only was it publicly established, CNC was also headquartered at the General Department of Police's house - No. 10 Ho Giam, Dong Da, Hanoi.

Former Director General of the General Department of Police Phan Van Vinh, when questioned by the court many times about this matter, explained that the location at 10 Ho Giam was assigned to the General Department by the Ministry of Public Security. Seeing that the small house could be rented, when C50 and CNC proposed to rent it, defendant Vinh thought it was a reasonable solution and accepted.

No one checks CNC

In response to the chairman's question, why when organizing card games, many agencies came to inspect but were not handled? Phan Sao Nam said he did not know the reason, but in reality, each time it happened, he told Duong and was answered: "I will handle it and work with those agencies".

Meanwhile, Duong affirmed that "no one intervened". When the judge cited Duong's testimony at the investigation agency showing that he had called former Major General Hoa, the defendant said: "Maybe it's been a long time and I don't remember, but what I said is true".

Duong's testimony shows that when he heard that VTC Online was being inspected, the former director of C50 said "let me make a call" and after that VTC Online was no longer inspected.

Defendants Phan Sao Nam (former chairman of VTC Online company), Hoang Thanh Trung (former director of Nam Viet company, currently on the run), Nguyen Van Duong (former chairman of the police front company - CNC) connected, cooperated to establish and operate an online gambling organization through card game portals: Rikvip/Tipclub, 23zdo, Zon/Pen...

After 27 months of operation, the line attracted nearly 43 million player accounts in 24 provinces and cities. Total revenue was nearly 10,000 billion VND.

For protecting this network, former Director General of the General Department of Police Phan Van Vinh was sentenced to 9 years, former Director of the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Department C50 Nguyen Thanh Hoa was sentenced to 10 years in prison, both for the crime.Abuse of power while performing official duties.