Dong Nai former Party chief, former chairman arrested

Tran Dinh Thanh, former Party secretary of Dong Nai, and Dinh Quoc Thai, former chairman of the southern province, were detained Wednesday for accepting bribes in a hospital investment scam.

Thanh was secretary of Dong Nai’s Party Committee during 2004-2015, while Thai was chairman of the provincial People’s Committee in the period 2011-2019.

The Ministry of Public Security’s investigative agency (C03) arrested the duo on charges of accepting bribes related to the Dong Nai General Hospital investment project.

Previously, in April, C03 prosecuted the case of “violating regulations on bidding, causing serious consequences” that occurred at the project.

The agency also detained Phan Huy Anh Vu, director of Dong Nai's Department of Health; Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, former chairman and general director of the Hanoi-headquartered AIC Company, and some others. As Nhan fled, C03 issued a wanted warrant.

The VND1,904 billion ($77.79 million) amended Dong Nai General Hospital investment project was approved by the people’s committee in July 2010 and assigned to the hospital as investor.

During the preparation of project amendment documents and bidding documents for 12 medical equipment procurement packages in the period 2013-2015, staff of the investor; AIC Company; bid consulting units; and the price appraisal unit had colluded to inflate the prices of equipment and cheat in bidding, seriously violating the Bidding Law.

Their acts allowed private firm AIC to win 12 bidding packages worth a total VND476.87 billion ($19.48 million), causing damage to state property, initially estimated at VND152 billion ($6.21 million).