¡¡HANOI, Aug. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam has given an eight-year imprisonment sentence to Chen Jen Chong, an American national, for hacking the country's international telephone network which caused nearly 4 billion VND (228,000 US dollars) in losses to the State, local media reported Sunday.

¡¡¡¡The court also handed down a five-year sentence in prison to Chen's Vietnamese accomplice Luu Ho Hai.

¡¡¡¡Chong and Hai rented several rooms in hotels and office blocks in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City's precinct 1 for their scheme.

¡¡¡¡Chong had since his return to Vietnam from the U.S. in November 2000, with Hai's assistance, illegally installed telecom equipmentto divert international phone calls from abroad to Viet Nam via the pair's alternative phone network instead of through the network of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication corporation. The phone fraud was detected on Feb. 2 of 2001. Enditem

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