Admitting the crime, the former director and deputy director of Thu Duc hospital confessed that due to pressure to fight the epidemic, they signed decisions to import large quantities of test kits from Viet A Company.
On June 13, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court opened a first instance trial for defendant Nguyen Minh Quan (former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital) and his accomplices for violations in purchasing test kits from Viet A.
According to the allegation, during the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control period, Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan, as Director of Thu Duc City Hospital, directed the import of a large number of test kits from Viet A Company through Nam Phong Company.
The import of these goods is not carried out according to regulations or contractor capacity. It is not a bidding but a designated contractor.
Testifying in court, defendant Quan stated that he did not know that Nam Phong Company did not have the function of a contractor and did not know anything about this company. The defendant only worked with Viet A Company and trusted his subordinates, so he directed the import of test kits.
However, defendant Quan accepted responsibility for his mistakes. However, the defendant hopes the jury will consider the context because the bidding procedure is too long (more than 3 months) while the Thu Duc area is under great pressure to fight the epidemic.
Defendant Pham Vu Phong (Director of Nam Phong Company) was accused of carrying out procedures to rig bids and cheating in bidding despite being incompetent. Since then, Nam Phong Company has received 1 competitive bidding package, 4 shortened bidding packages, and 33 bidding packages from Thu Duc City Hospital to buy Covid-19 test kits produced from the company. Viet A.
In addition, defendant Phong, through Le Trung Nguyen (an employee of Viet A Company), gave more than 997 million VND in “commissions” to employee Truong Thi Bao Tran.
In court, Phong declared that during the Covid-19 epidemic, the defendant had the means, a car, a place to store supplies… so he wanted to support the fight against the epidemic.
Through Le Trung Nguyen, the defendant knew that Thu Duc City Hospital needed to buy test kits, so he took goods from Viet A and acted as an intermediary to deliver them to this hospital. The initial purpose was not to think about profit but to just spend money out of pocket to help people and do charity. Some time later, the defendant started receiving 30-40% discounts and considered this to be Viet A’s mechanism.
Regarding the transfer of 997 million VND to Nguyen to give to hospital staff, Phong claimed that Nguyen raised the issue and transferred it himself. The defendant did not know who or when Nguyen transferred it to until he worked with the investigation agency.
Nguyen Lan Anh (former Deputy Director of Thu Duc City Hospital) testified that during the epidemic, the defendant was in charge of a field hospital and quarantine area with many things that needed supervision, so he did not have time to sit down and review documents. Purchasing test kits is very difficult and scarce, so the defendant signed authorization for 8 contracts to buy and sell test kits with Nam Phong Company and Viet A Company with the purpose of having full equipment to effectively fight the epidemic. and not for personal gain.