HCMC restaurant owner claims cop pockets $67,000 in prostitution protection scam

A Ho Chi Minh City restaurant owner claims he paid a police officer more than VND1.7 billion (US$67,000) to protect his establishments' prostitution activities, but the officer allegedly pocketed the bribe.

Nguyen Dinh Thong, 53, said he paid former police officer Ha Manh Truong to shield illicit activities at his two restaurants on Tran Quang Khai Street in Tan Dinh Ward.

Thong is set to stand trial at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Sept. 22 on charges of procuring prostitution and bribery.

Truong, 43, is charged with "fraud" and "appropriation of property."

Three other defendants who managed Thong's restaurants have also been charged with "procuring prostitution."

According to the indictment, Thong appointed Dong Trong Le, 48, as general manager and Vo Phuc Chau, 36, as deputy general manager of the two facilities.

Starting in February 2024, they allowed female hostesses to engage in prostitution.

Once or twice a month, Thong and Le visited the facilities to instruct managers on operations, including arranging for hostesses to have sex with customers.

The hostesses negotiated directly with customers, charging between VND2.5 million and VND3 million per encounter, and kept the entire amount.

Managers received 20% of the room bills they booked, along with additional money from customers when they arranged the services.

On the night of Nov. 7, 2024, HCMC police inspected two hotels in Phu Nhuan District and caught several hostesses from Thong's restaurants having sex with customers.

Case records show that Thong profited the most from the illicit operations, earning VND125 million.

Le received more than VND28 million, Chau collected over VND3.7 million, and two other female employees each received VND500,000.

During the investigation, Thong said he met Truong through social connections.

At the time, Truong was serving as an officer with Team 2 of the municipal Criminal Police Division.

In February 2024, Thong asked Truong to contact leaders of the District 1 police and the Criminal Police Division to establish a monthly payoff system in exchange for preventing inspections.

Thong subsequently made multiple payments to Truong totaling VND1.75 billion.

Investigators determined that after receiving the money, Truong ignored Thong's request and instead used all the funds for personal expenses.

Truong initially admitted to the conduct but later changed his testimony to deny appropriating the money.

He claimed he initially accepted the funds because he feared refusing would affect his job, and that he later returned the money.