Former AIC chairwoman gets 10 years in jail for third scam

Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, former chairwoman of Hanoi-based Advanced International JSC (AIC), was sentenced Thursday to an additional 10 years in prison for her role in a major medical equipment scam.

Nhan, the businesswoman-turned-fugitive, was found guilty of “violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences” at the Hospital for Obstetrics and Pediatrics in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

This is the third criminal case that Nhan, on the run since 2021, has been prosecuted. In late 2022, as the mastermind in another case of violating bidding regulations and accepting bribes at the Dong Nai General Hospital, she was sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison by the Hanoi People's Court. Nhan faces similar charges in another case related to the Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City that is under investigation.

Thirteen others were sentenced Thursday on the same charges.

Nguyen Hong Son, former deputy general director of AIC, was sentenced to seven years; Truong Xuan Loan, former head of AIC’s Project Management Unit 3 to five years; and Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, former head of the company’s financial secretary department, six years.

Nguyen Thi Tich, former general director of Mopha Company, received three years in prision while Do Van Son, former AIC chief accountant, got 30 months. Nguyen Thi Quyen, former general director of price appraisal firm Cimeico Co., Ltd, got a 24-month probation.

Hoang Dinh Son, Nguyen Quy Thinh and Pham Ngoc Dung, former officials of Quang Ninh's provincial Department of Health were sentenced to 36, 24 and 24 months in jail, respectively.

The judge panel at the People’s Court of Quang Ninh also sentenced two other defendants – Luong Van Tam, former director of the management board of Medical Projects under the Quang Ninh Department of Health; and Le Thi Phu, deputy dead of the price management division under the Quang Ninh Department of Finance – to 30 months’ probation each for "showing a lack of responsibility causing serious consequences."

According to the indictment, a project to build the Quang Ninh Hospital for Obstetrics and Pediatrics with a total investment capital of VND135.65 billion ($5.54 million under the current exchange rate) was approved by the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province in 2009. In 2012, the provincial People's Committee approved a VND238.13 billion ($9.69 million) medical equipment procurement project for the hospital, comprising six bidding packages.

As AIC chairwoman, Nhan instructed her subordinates to collude with the hospital staff in the consulting, bidding document preparation, bid evaluation and price appraisal units to win all six bidding packages. This action’s damage to the state exchequer is estimated at about VND50.6 billion ($2.06 million).

AIC, established in 2005 as a labor export specialist, grew into a multi-sector firm with more than 10 corporate subsidiaries and annual revenues of trillions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 trillion = $43.29 million).

In recent years, AIC has won bidding packages to supply healthcare and education equipment in different localities across the country.