Viet A chairman spent millions of dollars to 'thank' officials: investigators

Viet A Company chairman and general director Phan Quoc Viet paid bribes of more than VND86 billion ($3.6 million) to ministry officials for helping his company sell Covid-19 test kits, investigators say.

The Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency (C03) says the bribes were given to officials of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Science and Technology.

The agency has concluded that his actions violated regulations on management of state property causing loss and waste; bidding, causing serious consequences; bribery; abuse of positions and power in performing official duties; and taking advantage of influence over people with positions and power to make illicit profit for Viet A Company and related units.

Early 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the Government and the Ministry of Science and Technology had assigned scientific agencies the task of researching and manufacturing biological products for epidemic prevention and control. Under this policy, Viet A Company could participate in the research and manufacture of test kits approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Viet colluded with Trinh Thanh Hung, deputy director of the department of science and technology of technical and economic sectors under the Ministry of Science and Technology to get the ministry to approve Viet A Company’s cooperation with the Military Medical Academy in implementing the project to research and manufacture Covid-19 test kits.

Viet also colluded with Hung to have Viet A Company be allowed to use research results and prepare a registration dossier to be sent to the health ministry.

Viet then got three people – Nguyen Van Trinh, a Government Office official, Nguyen Thanh Long, Minister of Health and Nguyen Huynh, Long’s secretary – to influence Nguyen Minh Tuan, director of the medical equipment and construction department under the health ministry.

Accordingly, Tuan proposed that Nguyen Truong Son, then Deputy Minister of Health, signs a decision to issue a registration number for the circulation of Viet A Company's Covid-19 test kits.

This effectively turned the test kits from a research product of a state agency under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology into property owned by Viet A Company, in contravention of the law.

When his company produced the kits commercially and sold 200,000 units to the health ministry, Viet raised their prices from VND143,461 per kit to VND470,000 ($19.7).

The health ministry checked the negotiated price and determined that Viet A had changed production materials from the registration document, but neither did it make official inspection conclusions nor recommend measures to handle the discrepancies.

In order to get Viet A to participate in research and developing test kits as also obtain a product registration number, Viet gave more than VND86 billion ($3.6 million) in bribes to officials of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Science and Technology

Specifically, Viet “thanked” Nguyen Van Trinh, a Government Office official, with a payment of $200,000; Chu Ngoc Anh, Minister of Science and Technology with $200,000; and Pham Cong Tac, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, with $50,000.

He paid $350,000 to Trinh Thanh Hung, deputy director of the department of science and technology of technical and economic sectors under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long received $2.25 million from Viet; his secretary Huynh got VND4 billion (about $170,000). Tuan, director of the health ministry's medical equipment and construction department, got $300,000; and Nguyen Nam Lien, director of the ministry’s financial planning department received $100,000.