First-instance trial opens for officers in pandemic-related corruption cases
The military court of the capital city of Hanoi on December 27 opened the first-instance trial for seven defendants related to the COVID-19 test kit case at Viet A Company and the Vietnam Military Medical University (VMMU). Among the defendants, there are four former military officers from the VMMU.
Three were prosecuted for “abusing position and power while performing duties”, and the other four for “violating bidding regulations, causing serious consequences”.
The indictment of the Central Military Procuracy read that amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, the Board of Directors of the VMMU sent a document to the Ministry of Science and Technology, proposing the task of developing COVID-19 test kits.
The accused managed to engage the Viet A Technologies JSC into the test kit development project worth nearly VND19 billion (over US$781,400) and help it get the licence to illegally produce the test kits.
Their wrongdoings caused an economic loss of nearly VND18.5 billion.
The first-instance trial is scheduled to last for three days.
