Information ministry officials arrested for involvement in AIC equipment bidding scam

Nguyen Trong Duong, deputy director of the Ministry of Information and Communication's (MIC) finance-planning department, was arrested on Saturday for violations related to an equipment bidding scam at the Hanoi-based Advanced International JSC (AIC).

The investigative agency (C03) under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) also initiated legal proceedings against and detained Ngo Quang Huy, deputy chief of the MIC Office, for the same charge of “violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences”, said MPS spokesman Lieutenant General To An Xo.

Duong and Huy were determined to have committed violations when serving as director and deputy director of the Vietnam Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Center (VNCERT/CC), he added.

For the same charge, C03 also launched legal proceedings against Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, AIC chairwoman; Do Van Son, head of project management unit 2 at AIC; Nguyen Van The, head of the AIC’s economic department; Nguyen Vu Cuong, director of Khang Phat Co., Ltd; Mai Phuong Nam, deputy director of Khang Phat Co., Ltd; Dang Xuan Minh, director of valuation firm BTC Value; and Nguyen Quoc Viet, an appraiser at BTC Value Company.

Investigators alleged that in the process of making, approving, and organizing bidding for a project to purchase equipment and technical services to monitor and analyze cyber incidents and attacks on a number of international websites implemented by VNCERT/CC in 2017, Duong, as director of the center, directed his subordinates to collude with the consulting units Khang Phat and BTC Value to enable the equipment supplier AIC to win the bidding, causing a loss to state assets.

This is the fourth case that businesswoman-turned-fugitive Nhan has been investigated for.

At the end of 2022, as the mastermind of a case of violating bidding regulations and accepting bribes at Dong Nai General Hospital, Nhan was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Hanoi People's Court.

In the second case related to violating medical equipment bidding regulations in Quang Ninh province, Nhan received 10 years in jail. In the third case under investigation, she is also accused of violating bidding regulations at the Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City.