Former Director of CDC Da Nang sentenced to 11 years in prison

On August 25, the People's Court of Da Nang City opened the first instance trial of the defendants Ton That Thanh (59 years old, former Director of the Da Nang Center for Disease Control (CDC), Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan (41 years old, former Head of the Testing Department of the Da Nang CDC) and Le Thi Kim Chi (37 years old, former employee of the Testing Department of the Da Nang CDC) for the crime of "Embezzlement of property".

The People's Court of Da Nang City sentenced defendant Ton That Thanh to 11 years in prison, defendant Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan to 10 years in prison and defendant Le Thi Kim Chi to 5 years in prison for the crime of "embezzlement of property".

According to the indictment, in 2020 - 2021, CDC Da Nang signed 16 procurement contracts with Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company (Viet A Company), a total of 81,350 manual extraction kits and 410,000 automatic extraction kits.

In addition to signing a contract to purchase Covid-19 test kits from Viet A Company, CDC Da Nang also received funding from other units.

During the process of mixing and using chemicals and test reagents, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan discovered that there was a certain amount left over. Nhan informed Thanh and asked not to report the amount of chemicals, reagents, and excess supplies on the accounting system but to sell them to Viet A Company for personal use and Mr. Thanh agreed.

The surplus amount of chemicals and biological products left off the unit's books were sold by Nhan and Chi to Viet A Company.

From January 30, 2021 to April 6, 2022, the total amount of chemicals, biological products, and medical supplies that Ton That Thanh, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, and Le Thi Kim Chi appropriated from TCDC Da Nang included: 21,000 automatic extraction kits branded iVAaDNA/RNA Extraction kit aM; 10,000 manual extraction kits branded iVAaRNA Extraction kit P; 18,050 empty 1.5 ml tubes, included in the manual extraction kit of Viet A Company; 19,000 empty 1.5 ml tubes of SPL Korea; 37,500 empty 1.5 ml tubes of QSP USA; 2,400 PCR COVID-19 test kits branded LightPower IVASARS-CoV-2; 7,584 Standard TM M nCoV Real-Time Detection kits.

The total value of assets the defendants appropriated from CDC Da Nang was more than 5.2 billion VND.

During the investigation, the police seized a number of kits and biological products in storage with a total value of more than 700 million VND. Thus, the defendants' actions caused a loss of more than 4.5 billion VND to CDC Da Nang.

The indictment of the Da Nang People's Procuracy accused the defendants of organized crime, repeated crimes, and taking advantage of the pandemic for personal gain. However, the People's Procuracy later withdrew the accusation of "organized crime".

At court, the defendants admitted their wrongdoings and caused damage to CDC Da Nang, but did not do so for personal gain. The transfer of surplus kits and biological products was only to provide additional support to officers and employees who were working hard to prevent the epidemic.

Before the trial date, the defendants had recovered more than the amount of damage caused to CDC Da Nang. Of which, defendant Thanh paid more than 4.5 billion VND, defendant Nhan more than 600 million VND and defendant Chi more than 350 million VND.

In their final statements before the panel of judges deliberated, the defendants said they recognized their wrongdoings and apologized to the CDC Da Nang and the Department of Health Da Nang for affecting the collective's overall achievements.

“The defendant abused his position and power, causing loss of state assets. During his detention, he has remedied the consequences. The defendant apologizes to the agency and the Department of Health. As for defendants Nhan and Chi, during their work, they were capable people. I hope the panel of judges will reduce their sentences,” said defendant Ton That Thanh.