On May 12, former Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong appeared in court

According to the decision of the Hanoi People’s Court, the trial of former Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong and his accomplices is expected to take place from May 12 to 17.

Former Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong and Nguyen Viet Hung, former officer of Ho Chi Minh City Customs; Le Dinh Thanh, a former officer of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, was charged with “lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences”.

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, former deputy director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, and Pham Hong Chau, former head of the Drug Registration Department, appeared in court for the crime of “abusing positions and powers while on official duty”.

Nguyen Minh Hung, former Chairman of VN Pharma; Vo Manh Cuong, former director of H&C Company, and 7 other defendants will appear in court on the charge of “trading in counterfeit goods as medicine”. Before that, Mr. Hung was sentenced to 17 years in prison; Cuong received 20 years in prison for the crime of “trading in counterfeit goods as medicine”.

The upcoming trial is part of phase 2 of the Vn Pharma case, scheduled to take place from May 12 to 17 at the People’s Court of Hanoi (the new headquarters is located on Nguyen Xien – Chu Van An, Hoang Mai) under the supervision of the People’s Court of Hanoi. by the presiding judge, Judge Dao Ba Son.

Former Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong has 3 defense lawyers; The remaining group of 13 defendants includes 22 lawyers to protect their legitimate rights and interests. In addition, there are 5 procurators representing the Hanoi People’s Procuracy, who retain the right to practice prosecution and supervise trial.

According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, in 2008-2010, Nguyen Le Xuan Khang (a Vietnamese citizen of Canada) discussed with Hung about making a dossier of medicines bearing the Health 2000 Canada label to Vietnam to apply for a registration number.

This number of drugs was determined by the legal authorities to be fake, but some officials of the Drug Administration of Vietnam were “irresponsible or with personal motives” so they violated their official duties during the appraisal and approval process. As a result, there are 7 drugs labeled Health 2000 Canada that have been assigned registration numbers.

After that, the group of defendants Hung, Cuong and their employees traded, imported and cleared a large number of them into Vietnam.

According to the indictment, there were more than 800,000 boxes of medicine with a total value of more than 1.2 million USD, which were imported, equivalent to 26 billion VND, but were falsely raised to more than 2.5 million USD, equivalent to 54 billion VND. Next, more than 600,000 boxes of counterfeit medicine were then sold to businesses, hospitals, etc., helping the defendants earn more than 31 billion dong.

The indictment determined that Mr. Truong Quoc Cuong, when committing the crime, was the Director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, improperly and inadequately performed his assigned responsibilities; Lack of supervision resulted in 6 out of 7 fake Health 2000 medicines worth more than 148 billion VND being imported and consumed.

Mr. Cuong was repeatedly warned by the Ministry of Health and the police force about counterfeit drugs but “ignored”, continuing to allow the product to be circulated and used. Former Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong was prosecuted and imprisoned at the end of 2021.

According to Minh Duc