Former health minister sentenced to 18 years in prison for Covid test kit scandal

Nguyen Thanh Long, former Minister of Health and Party Central Committee member, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for accepting bribes worth $2.25 million in a Covid-19 scandal that rocked the country.

Chu Ngoc Anh, former Minister of Science and Technology, and Pham Xuan Thang, former chief of Hai Duong province's Party Committee, both former Party Central Committee members, received respective jail sentences of three and five years, according to a verdict announced by the Hanoi People's Court on Friday.

They were among 38 defendants who stood a 10-day trial due to wrongdoings committed during the country's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, using test kits produced by Viet A Company.

They were convicted of violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences; giving bribes; accepting bribes; violating regulations on management and use of state assets causing loss and waste; abusing positions and power while on duty; and making use of influence over people with positions and power for profiteering.

Pham Cong Tac, a former deputy of Chu Ngoc Anh, was sentenced to three years behind bars. Other former officials of the ministries of health and science received sentences of between seven and 14 years in prison for accepting bribes.

Phan Quoc Viet, general director of Viet A Company, was sentenced to a combined 29 years in prison for violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences and giving bribes. The court concluded that Viet had taken advantage of the epidemic for personal gains, which was an aggravating circumstance for the penalty.

In a verdict announced by the Hanoi Capital Military Court last month, Viet received 25 years behind bars.

Notably, Nguyen Thanh Danh, former director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Binh Duong province, which was once a Covid-19 hot spot, was the only one to be exempt from criminal liability. The court assessed that Danh did not profiteer and repeatedly refused money offered by Viet A executives.

The rest received sentences ranging from 30 months of probation to five years in prison.

The jury affirmed that they had taken into account merits and violations of the defendants when deciding the sentences. All defendants received lighter sentences than those proposed by the Hanoi Procuracy.