Today (December 27), the Hanoi Capital Military Court began trialing 7 defendants for violations that occurred at the Military Medical Academy. This is also part of the Viet A Company case, which is being resolved by the military, the rest will be tried by the Hanoi People’s Court on January 3, 2024.
With the case at the military court today, the group of former officers was accused of committing the crimes of “Abusing positions and powers while performing official duties” and “Violating regulations on bidding causing serious consequences.” .
Defendants Phan Quoc Viet and Ho Anh Son. Photo: Minh Khanh
Among the defendants, four are former officers of the Military Medical Academy, including Ho Anh Son, lieutenant colonel, former deputy director of the Military Medical and Pharmaceutical Research Institute; Nguyen Van Hieu, colonel, former Head of the Department of Equipment and Supplies; Ngo Anh Tuan, major, Head of Finance Department; Le Truong Minh, major, former Head of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department.
The remaining three defendants include Trinh Thanh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Economic and Technical Industries, Ministry of Science and Technology; Phan Quoc Viet and Vu Dinh Hiep are the General Director and Deputy General Director of Viet A Company, respectively.
First mistake According to the indictment, in 2020, the Military Medical Academy and Viet A Company researched Covid-19 test kits with a budget of nearly 19 billion VND from the State. The research results are assets managed by the Minister of Science and Technology, but the Military Medical Academy “agreed to let Viet A Company have full rights to use”.
Specifically, defendant Ho Anh Son, assigned as the project leader, asked Major General Hoang Van Luong, then Deputy Director of the Military Medical Academy, to sign an official dispatch to the Ministry of Science and Technology, requesting the development of the kit. kiểm TRA. Knowing this, Trinh Thanh Hung asked Son to bring Viet A Company into the same research because Hung knew Phan Quoc Viet.
Ho Anh Son agreed and made a new dispatch showing that the Military Medical Academy and Viet A Company had researched, for Major General Luong to sign. The Ministry of Science and Technology accepted this official dispatch.
As a result, Viet A’s test kit researched by Ho Thi Thanh Thuy (Phan Quoc Viet’s wife) had better quality than the product of the Military Medical Academy, so it was tested and was granted a temporary circulation number by the Ministry of Health. time in March 2020.
To be granted official circulation, Viet then directed his subordinates to prepare a minutes showing that the Military Medical Academy agreed to give Viet A Company “full rights to use the research results” and have the Military Medical Academy logo printed on it. onto the product.
The Ministry of Health then approved and allowed Viet A Company to circulate the official test kit product. Thus, research products with State money, owned by the Ministry of Science and Technology, were converted into products of Viet A Company, for this enterprise to sell commercially.
After being licensed by the Ministry of Health, Phan Quoc Viet thanked Trinh Thanh Hung with 350 thousand USD (about 8 billion VND) and gave Ho Anh Son 2.5 billion VND in “commission”.
The second violation also occurred in 2020, when Phan Quoc Viet asked Ho Anh Son to buy cotton swabs and environmental tubes to sell to Viet A Company for resale. Son will enjoy “all profits” from this.
Son agreed and directed his subordinates to find and buy falcon tubes and cotton swabs in Hanoi, then package them and deliver them to Viet A Company. On many products, Ho Anh Son also stamped the logo of the Military Medical and Pharmaceutical Research Institute and Military Medical Academy.
When receiving goods from Son, Viet A Company resold them to a number of state medical facilities or private hospitals, collecting a total amount of more than 3.6 billion VND. Except for taxes, the remaining amount of more than 3.1 billion VND was transferred by Viet A to defendant Son. The prosecution agency determined that, excluding reasonable expenses, defendant Son benefited more than 2.1 billion VND through doing business with Viet A.
3rd violation It was determined by the military prosecution agency that the Military Medical Academy purchased test kits from Viet A Company at a high price during the anti-epidemic process in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Ho Chi Minh City.
First, because he was assigned the task of returning to Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to fight the epidemic, Lieutenant General Do Quyet, former Director of the Military Medical Academy, signed a document, requested and received approval from the Ministry of National Defense to spend more than 7.2 billion VND. to buy 220 kits (96 tests/kit).
However, the Military Medical Academy did not bid according to regulations but instead purchased a “designated contractor” from Viet A Company for more than 9.5 billion VND, 2.2 billion higher than the report sent to the Ministry of National Defense. .
In July 2021, the Academy paid more than 5.1 billion VND to Viet A and at this time, defendants Phan Quoc Viet and Vu Dinh Hiep paid “commissions” to the group of officers. Of which, defendant Ho Anh Son received 344 million VND; Ngo Anh Tuan 148 million VND; Nguyen Van Hieu 492 million VND. Defendant Hieu then gave Major General Hoang Van Luong, Deputy Director of the Academy, 50 million VND, saying: “The gifts were provided by companies selling medical supplies.”
Also in 2021, the Military Medical Academy was sent to fight the epidemic in Ho Chi Minh City, so it asked the Ministry of National Defense to spend more than 17.5 billion VND to buy 390 kits (corresponding to 37,440 tests) from Viet A Company. .
However, the contract value was later increased to 77,280 tests, equivalent to more than 32.2 billion VND – 14.6 billion VND higher than the report sent to the Ministry of National Defense.
After that, Vu Dinh Hiep, in his role as Deputy General Director of Viet A, brought more than 3 billion VND in “commission” money to defendant Nguyen Van Hieu; gave Ngo Anh Tuan 921 million VND.
In total, the Military Medical Academy bought more than 81 billion VND worth of tests from Viet A at a higher price than reported, causing a loss of more than 27.7 billion VND. Through this, Phan Quoc Viet and Vu Dinh Hiep paid more than 7.1 billion VND in “commissions” to a group of Military Medical Academy officers, the indictment shows.
In addition to the three violations above, the prosecution agency said that the actions of Lieutenant General Do Quyet, former Director of the Military Medical Academy, and his deputy Major General Hoang Van Luong showed signs of the crime of “Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.” ” but were separated and investigated and processed later.