On the afternoon of April 15, the People's Court of Khanh Hoa province sentenced 6 defendants in the case that occurred at Khanh Hoa CDC, with the highest sentence being 3 years and 6 months in prison, much lower than the penalty for the crime they were prosecuted for.
According to the verdict of the first instance court of Khanh Hoa Province People's Court, all 6 defendants in the case that occurred at the Khanh Hoa Provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC Khanh Hoa) were prosecuted by the Provincial People's Procuracy for the crime of "violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences" as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 222 of the Penal Code.
According to the provisions of the law on crimes prosecuted against the 6 defendants in the above case, there are prison sentences from 10 years to 20 years.
At the first instance trial of the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Court, the panel of judges sentenced defendant Huynh Van Dong (former director of Khanh Hoa CDC, currently on bail) to 3 years and 6 months in prison. The prison term is calculated from the date of arrest and is deducted from the time defendant Dong was detained (from October 21, 2022 to November 16, 2023).
That is the highest sentence among the defendants at this trial.
Next, defendant Tran Quoc Huy (former head of the organization and administration department of Khanh Hoa CDC) was sentenced to 1 year and 7 months in prison. This defendant was temporarily detained for 1 year and 5 months (from June 17, 2022 to November 16, 2023, then released on bail until now).
The two defendants Nguyen Truong Giang (general director of Vietnam Applied Technology Development Company Limited, abbreviated VNDAT) and Nguyen Thi Thuy (director of VNDAT project department) were both sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
Both defendants Giang and Thuy reside in Hanoi and have been sentenced by the Hanoi People's Court in another case.
Defendant Phan Phuong Ngoc (female employee of the pharmaceutical and medical supplies department of Khanh Hoa CDC) and defendant Cao Van Cuong (owner of the Phong Phu business establishment in Nghia Dong, Cam Duc town, Cam Lam district, Khanh Hoa) were both sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison by the court of first instance.
After being prosecuted, both defendants Ngoc and Cuong were subject to preventive measures, including being prohibited from leaving their place of residence. Currently, defendant Ngoc is raising a young child, while defendant Cuong is sick and has a guardian. However, according to the verdict of the first instance court of Khanh Hoa Province, only defendant Cao Van Cuong was given a suspended sentence.
The People's Court of Khanh Hoa Province also ordered Tuong Khue Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (in Hai Chau District, Da Nang City) to return to the state budget nearly VND 1.94 billion that it had illegally benefited from and to pay court fees of more than VND 70.19 million.
Tuong Khue Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company is an enterprise that has been approved to win 21 bids (total value of over 19.51 billion VND) at Khanh Hoa CDC. Of these, 4 bids violated, creating conditions for Tuong Khue Company to illegally benefit, causing damage to state assets of nearly 1.94 billion VND.
The total amount of damage in the entire case of violating bidding regulations at CDC Khanh Hoa is more than 15.97 billion VND.
The defendants and those with related rights and obligations have returned the amounts of money they received, illegally benefited from, and the voluntary compensation in total, which is more than the total amount of damage mentioned above. In particular, Tuong Khue Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company has not yet returned the amount of money it illegally benefited from, so the court ordered it to return as stated.