On the afternoon of December 29, after 2 days of trial, the Capital Military Court issued a verdict for 7 defendants in the Viet A case.
Based on the case file and the trial proceedings, the panel sentenced defendant Phan Quoc Viet , General Director of Viet A Company, to 15 years in prison for the crime of “Abusing position and power while performing official duties”; 10 years in prison for the crime of “Violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences”; the total sentence is 25 years in prison.
Defendant Phan Quoc Viet (Photo: Hai Nam).
The People's Court sentenced defendant Trinh Thanh Hung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology ) to 15 years in prison for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties".
For the same crime, defendant Ho Anh Son (former Deputy Director of the Military Medical Research Institute, Military Medical Academy) was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
For the crime of violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences, the People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Hieu (former Colonel, former Head of Equipment and Supplies Department of the Military Medical Academy) to 7 years in prison; defendant Ngo Anh Tuan (former Major, former Head of Finance Department of the Military Medical Academy) to 4 years in prison; defendant Le Truong Minh (former Major, former Head of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Military Medical Academy) to 6 years in prison; defendant Vu Dinh Hiep (Deputy General Director of Viet A Company) to 6 years in prison.
According to the indictment, implementing the direction of the Minister of National Defense on deploying forces to support Bac Giang and Bac Ninh provinces in collecting Covid-19 testing samples, Lieutenant General Do Quyet (then Director of the Military Medical Academy) signed plans to organize field testing centers.
To implement the plan, former Colonel Nguyen Van Hieu assigned Le Truong Minh to contact Ho Anh Son and ask for a test kit from Viet A Company.
Defendant Ho Anh Son at the trial on December 28 (Photo: Nam Anh).
To have funds to purchase medical supplies to prevent the epidemic, Lieutenant General Do Quyet signed an official dispatch requesting the head of the Ministry of National Defense to ensure funding of more than 19 billion VND and requesting to purchase through a designated bidding method. The head of the Ministry of National Defense agreed with the proposal of the Military Medical Academy.
However, the Military Medical Academy did not carry out the bidding in accordance with regulations but instead pre-paid the test kit from Viet A Company, then legalized the bidding documents.
The total number of kits that the Military Medical Academy used in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh is 9.5 billion VND - 2.2 billion VND higher than the amount allowed by the Ministry.
After being paid, Phan Quoc Viet directed to pay a commission of 20% of the contract value to the Military Medical Academy, of which Ho Anh Son alone was paid 5%.
After being paid by the Military Medical Academy, Viet A "returned" 2.5 billion VND to Mr. Son; 3.56 billion VND to Mr. Hieu and 1.37 billion VND to Mr. Tuan.
Defendant Trinh Thanh Hung at trial (Photo: Nguyen Hai).
The total amount of money Viet A spent as commission after being paid for selling test kits in some localities above to 3 former officers of the Military Medical Academy was more than 7 billion VND.
At court, defendant Trinh Thanh Hung said that during the process of approving and implementing the national project on Covid-19 test kit research, the Ministry of Science and Technology assigned the Military Medical Academy to preside over and coordinate with Viet A Company to carry out the project in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Hung admitted his wrongdoings and said that since he began researching this topic, he wanted to have the earliest, fastest, and highest quality test kit to be ready to participate in epidemic prevention if the epidemic entered Vietnam.
In addition, Mr. Hung also wants to increase the results of the research topic.
"The defendant's mistake was unintentional, not intentional," Mr. Hung said, and respectfully asked the panel of judges to consider mitigating circumstances so that he could soon return to his family to take care of his sick mother.
Meanwhile, former Lieutenant Colonel, former Deputy Director of the Military Medical Research Institute, Military Medical Academy Ho Anh Son said that he used to be in the Party's ranks, but was expelled for his mistakes and "only felt regret after losing it".
The defendant realized that his mistakes had affected the Party's reputation.
"The defendant also wore a military uniform, with 30 years of proud service. However, the defendant's violations have affected the military force, especially the Military Medical Academy.
If time could be turned back, the defendant would still commit, but would take a different path, legally and without a trial like today," Mr. Son said.
Meanwhile, Viet A General Director Phan Quoc Viet hopes that the court will consider his merits and the context of the crime, "entirely for the common good of the country" and consider the value of the Viet A kit during the epidemic to give the defendant a low sentence.
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