Former health minister, Hanoi mayor arrested over Covid test kit scandal

Vietnamese police arrested former Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long and former Hanoi Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh Tuesday night for having violated the Party's rules and caused losses to the State budget.

Long was dismissed from his position of Minister of Health in the morning, while Anh was fired in the afternoon. The duo were expelled from the Party on Monday.

On the same day, the police arrested Pham Cong Tac, former Deputy Minister of Science of Technology, on the same charges.

Hanoi will be temporarily led by the city's Deputy Chairman Le Hong Son. Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen is the acting head of the ministry starting Tuesday.

Nguyen Thanh Long and Chu Ngoc Anh "have displayed deterioration in their political ideology, ethics and lifestyles, violating the Party’s regulations and State laws," according to the Party Central Committee.

Long has been accused of mismanagement and involvement in a scam in which Vietnamese firm Viet A had overstated its prices of Covid-19 test kits.

Phan Quoc Viet, CEO of the company, was arrested in December 2021. He then admitted he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45% and given huge bribes to corporate partners and leaders of provincial and city centers for disease control nationwide, asking them to distribute and use Covid-19 test kits provided by his company.

Lieutenant General To An Xo, chief of staff and spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, told a government meeting on Saturday that Viet A earned up to VND4,000 billion ($172.47 million) illicitly, of which VND800 billion was spent on bribes.

As for the former Hanoi Chairman, the Party Central Committee stated: "Chu Ngoc Anh has caused very serious consequences, damage to the state budget; affected the country’s anti-pandemic efforts; caused anger in society; and affected the reputation of Party organizations of the ministries to the point of having to face disciplinary action."

Last month, the Central Inspection Committee proposed the Politburo take disciplinary action against Anh.

The inspection commission stated that the technology ministry leaders in the 2016-2021 term were found to have lacked responsibility, showed loose leadership, and lacked direction, management, and inspection, giving rise to some ministerial officials violating the Party’s regulations and State laws in approving and signing contracts, managing, inspecting, supervising and funding a project that studies and manufactures Covid-19 test kits for Military Medical Academy.