HANOI, July 2 - A Vietnamese court has sentenced four soccer referees, three of them FIFA-accredited, to between four and seven years in jail for bribery and match-fixing.
Vietnam has vowed to stamp out match-fixing in the country's most popular sport following a series of high-profile scandals which led to the arrest of dozens of players and referees.
The four sentenced and five others -- including three referees -- went on trial in Hanoi last week.
V-League referee Luong Trung Viet was sentenced to seven years in jail for "broking for bribery" even though prosecutors had sought a term of up to 12 years for him, the online VNExpress (vnexpress.net) newspaper said on Monday.
Viet received about 110 million dong ($6,800) from Dong A Bank-Pomina Steel club in 2004 and later gave 99 million dong of the money to other referees, the newspaper said.
FIFA-accredited referees Pham Huu Loc and Truong The Toan were sentenced to four years in jail while a national-ranked referee got 4-? years in prison, the VNExpress said, citing the Hanoi People's Court verdict.
A third FIFA-accredited referee, Le Van Tu, was handed a two-year suspended sentence for taking bribes. Another two referees and two football club officials received suspended terms of between 2-? years and three years.