Vietnam arrests former senior officials linked to Viet A test kit scandal
VOV.VN - The Police Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security on June 7 detained Nguyen Thanh Long, former Minister of Health, and Chu Ngoc Anh former Hanoi Mayor, to investigate their violations related to the Viet A test kit scam.
The police also executed search warrants at the home of the three former officials.
The arrests come after the Party Central Committee expelled both former officials from the Party and the National Assembly dismissed them from their posts.
The same day, the Police Investigation Agency also issued a decision to prosecute former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac. He was investigated for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing loss and waste.
The COVID-19 test kit case at Viet A Technologies was discovered in mid-December 2021 and was put under close scrutiny by the Central Steering Committee for Corruption and Negative Phenomena Prevention and Control.
Last December the police arrested and initiated legal proceedings against Phan Quoc Viet, general director of Viet A Technologies, for raising the price of RT-PCR COVID-19 test kits and giving bribery to health officials to sell their test kits.
The Ministry of Public Security found signs of wrongdoings in the management, research and transfer of the scientific project on COVID-19 test kits at the Ministry of Science and Technology and in licensing the circulation of the test kits and the negotiation of COVID-19 test kit price with Viet A Technologies at the Ministry of Health.
This is considered the most serious economic and corruption case, with many high-ranking officials arrested.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, former Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long abused his position and authority to violate the law relating to the issuance of circulation registration numbers and price negotiations of COVID-19 test kits, causing particularly serious damage to state property.
Meanwhile, former Hanoi Mayor Chu Ngoc Anh who was also former Minister of Science and Technology, was arrested for violating regulations on management and use of State assets, causing loss and waste under the 2017 Penal Code (amended).
The Viet A test kit scam erupted when both Anh and Long took the helm of the Party leaderships at the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health in the 2016-2021 tenure respectively.
