Among them were former Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh, former Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and former Secretary of Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee Pham Xuan Thang.
Besides, defendant Phan Quoc Viet, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Viet A Technologies Joint Stock Company appeared again in court for two crimes of “Violating regulations on bidding, causing serious consequences” and “Giving bribes.”
19 former officials from the Ministry of Health, Government Office, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Departments of Health and Centers for Disease Control of Nghe An, Hai Duong, Bac Giang, Binh Duong provinces and so on were prosecuted on charges related to one of the crimes “Receiving bribes”, "Violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences”, “Abusing positions and powers while performing official duties” and “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing waste and losses.”
The Ministry of Public Security has also authorized the police of provinces and cities to expand investigation over the case.
Investigation results showed that more than 100 people were identified as defendants in 32 other cases related to the Viet A Company.
The police of 15 localities prosecuted 15 cases of bidding violations and identified that Viet A Company distributed 560,000 test kits, causing a loss of VND180 billion (US$7.3 million).
According to the indictment, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and spread to many countries in the world.
Amid the pandemic outbreak in Vietnam, the Government deployed many policies and measures in the Covid-19 pandemic fight. Of which, the Ministry of Science and Technology was assigned to coordinate with relevant units to proactively research and manufacture biological products for pandemic prevention and control.
In this case, defendant Phan Quoc Viet allegedly colluded with Trinh Thanh Hung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology for Economic-Technical Branches under the Ministry of Science and Technology proposed and asked for the leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology to sign documents for the project implementation.
Of which, the Military Medical Academy was assigned to preside and Viet A Company was responsible for implementation coordination of the project with a value of nearly VND19 billion (US$777,129) from the state budget.
The two defendants agreed on establishing a project acceptance council for Viet A Company to use the acceptance results to make and submit an application for the registration number for circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 test kits. That did not comply with regulations and violated state ownership rights for research products.
The two defendants asked for competent criminal defendants at the Ministry of Health and the Government Office to directly intervene or ask other competent agencies and individuals for illicitly evaluating test kits and granting circulation registration numbers, negotiating price, announcing the negotiated price, handling negotiated price inspection results and creating conditions for Viet A Company to produce and trade test kits in the market.
Phan Quoc Viet and some subordinates discussed and colluded with officials and employees at health agencies of provinces and cities and units nationwide to illegally trade Covid-19 test kits causing losses of more than VND1.2 trillion (US$49 million) to the State and other agencies and organizations, including more than VND400 billion (US$16.4 million) damage to the State budget.
