Producing 20,000 Covid-19 test kits, Viet A takes 1 billion VND

On the afternoon of January 3, the trial of 38 defendants in the Viet A case entered the questioning phase.

Before the questioning, the Trial Panel requested the police to isolate the defendants Trinh Thanh Hung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology; former Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long; Nguyen Huynh, former Deputy Head of the Drug Price Management Department, Department of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Nguyen Van Trinh, former official of the Government Office.

As the first person to stand before the witness stand to answer the questions of the jury, defendant Phan Quoc Viet said that in 2007 he established Viet A Company.

When established, this company mainly operated in the field related to the purchase, sale and production of biological products and medical equipment.

In addition to Viet A Company, Phan Quoc Viet also established many other companies such as An Viet Company Limited... all operating in the medical field.

Most of these companies are directly managed by Viet.

In late January and early February 2020, defendant Trinh Thanh Hung called Phan Quoc Viet to suggest joining the Military Medical Academy in the research project to produce Covid-19 test kits.

At that time, Mr. Hung explained that participating in the project was to fight the epidemic, and Viet A needed to participate because this company met the requirements of the Ministry of Health. After that, Viet agreed to participate.

In early February 2020, Viet directed his subordinates to go to Hanoi to attend a meeting on the topic of research and production of Covid-19 test kits chaired by Mr. Pham Cong Tac (former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology).

After this meeting, Viet A participated in the research and production of 20,000 Covid-19 test kits within one month.

In court, Phan Quoc Viet stated that at that time, the Military Medical Academy transferred to Viet A Company a number of documents and procedures related to the test kit.

Viet A then relied on this document and process to optimize and research the Covid-19 test kit.

By mid-February 2020, Viet A had developed a test kit. Phan Quoc Viet and his subordinates then brought the product to Hanoi to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing.

At the same time, the Military Medical Academy also researched test kits, but the product was not as optimal as Viet A.

"In the contract, Viet A is responsible for researching and producing 20,000 test kits. Viet A takes 1 billion VND in labor and about 8-9 billion VND in raw materials from the Military Medical Academy to produce these test kits," Viet said.

After testing at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Viet A's test kit results were "passed".

Viet said that because the Covid-19 epidemic was completely new in the world at that time, the Ministry of Health asked Viet A to conduct the acceptance of the project phase 1. After that, the Ministry of Science and Technology cooperated with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to accept the project phase 1, with "satisfactory" results.

On March 4, Viet A was granted temporary permission to circulate the Covid-19 test kit and officially circulated it on December 4.

Thanks to the parties involved to soon circulate the test kit

The General Director of Viet A Company explained that the licensing process was slow because this was the first time the epidemic appeared, all parties were cautious and wanted the product to be the best and most optimal.

Phan Quoc Viet admitted that the process of officially licensing the test kit encountered some difficulties.

After that, the defendant asked Mr. Nguyen Huynh, former Deputy Head of Drug Price Management Department, Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health) to influence some parties but the work was not smooth.

In addition, defendant Trinh Thanh Hung also influenced some parties to have the test kit circulated early, but Viet did not know the results clearly.

Phan Quoc Viet stated that he had known Mr. Hung since 2013, and had known defendants Nguyen Van Trinh, Nguyen Thanh Long, and Nguyen Huynh since 2017.

After the test kit was officially circulated and he received money from selling the kit, Viet confessed that he gave Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung twice, for a total of 350,000 USD.

The purpose of Viet giving money to Mr. Hung is to thank and share because he enthusiastically helped Viet A Company during the research period.

In addition, Phan Quoc Viet also gave defendant Nguyen Van Trinh 200,000 USD to thank and share because "we are both Asians".

In particular, the General Director of Viet A Company gave Nguyen Huynh more than 2 million USD and 4 billion VND in cash at the end of 2020 and early 2021.

"The defendant and Nguyen Huynh were close friends. At that time, Nguyen Huynh shared about the money issue to give to Mr. Long (Nguyen Thanh Long, former Minister of Health)," Viet stated about the reason for giving money to Nguyen Huynh.

According to the General Director of Viet A Company, the money given to defendant Nguyen Huynh was borrowed from friends.

Then, Viet himself brought the money from Saigon to Hanoi by air.