Phan Quoc Viet and many defendants appear in court in the Viet A case

On the morning of December 27, the Hanoi Military Court tried 7 defendants related to the violations of a number of individuals at the Military Medical Academy. This is also part of the Viet A Company case, which is handled by the military, the rest will be tried by the Hanoi People's Court on January 3, 2024.

In the case at the Military Court today, the group of former officers were accused of the crimes of "Abusing positions and powers while performing official duties" and "Violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences".

Among the defendants, four are former officers of the Military Medical Academy, including: Former Lieutenant Colonel Ho Anh Son, former Deputy Director of the Military Medical Research Institute; Nguyen Van Hieu, former Colonel, former Head of the Equipment and Supplies Department; Ngo Anh Tuan, former Major, Head of the Finance Department; Le Truong Minh, former Major, former Head of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department.

The remaining three defendants include: Trinh Thanh Hung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology; Phan Quoc Viet, General Director of Viet A Company; Vu Dinh Hiep, Deputy General Director of Viet A Company.

According to the indictment, in 2020, the Military Medical Academy and Viet A Company researched the Covid test kit with a budget of nearly 19 billion VND from the State. The research results are assets managed by the Minister of Science and Technology, but the Military Medical Academy "agreed to let Viet A Company use them completely".

Specifically, Mr. Ho Anh Son was assigned to be the project manager, and asked Mr. Hoang Van Luong, then Deputy Director of the Military Medical Academy, to sign an official dispatch to the Ministry of Science, requesting the development of a test kit. Knowing this, Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung suggested to Mr. Son to include Viet A Company in the research because Mr. Hung knew Phan Quoc Viet.

After that, Mr. Ho Anh Son agreed and re-issued a new document showing that the Military Medical Academy and Viet A Company were researching, for Deputy Director of the Military Medical Academy Hoang Van Luong to sign. The Ministry of Science and Technology accepted this document.

As a result, the test kit was then tested and granted a temporary circulation number by the Ministry of Health in March 2020.

To get official circulation, Phan Quoc Viet directed his subordinates to draft a document showing that the Military Medical Academy agreed to allow Viet A Company to have "full rights to use the research results" and to print the Military Medical Academy logo on the product.

The Ministry of Health then approved and allowed Viet A Company to officially circulate the test kit. Thus, the research product using state money, owned by the Ministry of Science and Technology, was converted into a product of Viet A Company, for this enterprise to sell commercially.

In this case, Chairman of Viet A Phan Quoc Viet directed Mr. Vu Dinh Hiep (Deputy General Director of Viet A Company) to pay more than 7.1 billion VND in "commission" to individuals of the Military Medical Academy. At the same time, Phan Quoc Viet also thanked Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung with 350 thousand USD (about 8 billion VND).