A jail term from 10 to 11 years has been proposed for Nguyen Nhat Cam, the former director of the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control (CDC), for inflating the price of Covid-19 testing equipment, Kinh te & Do thi Newspaper reported.

Cam and his accomplices have confessed inflating by three-fold the procurement price of medical equipment and supplies for Covid-19 testing. They have been asked to return the embezzled money.

Former Director of the Hanoi CDC Nguyen Nhat Cam at the first-instance trial. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

At the first-instance trial, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy on December 11 also proposed jail sentences of 7-8 years for Nguyen Vu Ha Thanh, the former head of the Hanoi CDC’s Financial-Accounting Office and Dao The Vinh, the director of Vietnam Scientific and Material Science Company Limited (MST).

A jail term of 6-7 years was handed to Nguyen Tran Duy, the former General Director of Nhan Thanh Asset Valuation and Auctioning JSC and Nguyen Ngoc Nhat, an employee of Vitech Development Co.,Ltd.

Other defendants, including Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, the former head of the Hanoi CDC’s Organization Office; Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, the former head of the Hanoi CDC’s Professional Plan Office; and Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, an employee of Phuong Dong Medical Equipment Co.,Ltd, will face jail terms of 5-6 years.

Meanwhile, Le Xuan Tuan, an official of Hanoi CDC and Hoang Kim Thu, the former Chief Accountant of Hanoi CDC may face 2-3 years in jail.

Earlier, results of the Ministry of Public Security’s investigation uncovered collusion among these defendants for cheating and inflating the procurement price of real-time PCR detection systems, according to the indictment by the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

The defendants earlier confessed to police that they jacked up the price of the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines used in testing the new coronavirus by a factor of three. Procurators said Cam was the mastermind.

The price real-time detection systems were imported into Vietnam at a price quoted at VND2.3 billion (US$98,651) per machine, but the Hanoi CDC reported a cost of VND7 billion (US$ 300,272) per unit.

Under Article 222 of the Penal Code, those who violate bidding regulations that cause serious consequences may face a sentence of 1-20 years in prison, depending on the seriousness of the offense.