Former Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong was suddenly asked to reduce his prison sentence by nearly half

After 2 days of deliberation, this afternoon, May 19, the Hanoi People’s Court issued a first-instance judgment against the former Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong and 13 other defendants in the case at the Drug Administration of Vietnam – Ministry of Health.

Defendant Truong Quoc Cuong at the trial – Photo: Hung Anh

According to the announcement of the presiding judge of the court session at 2pm this afternoon, May 19, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Mr. Truong Quoc Cuong and 13 other defendants.

However, early this afternoon, the court suddenly returned to the litigation part.

During the trial, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy recorded the last words that the defendant Truong Quoc Cuong had confessed to. In addition, this defendant also lobbied his family to pay 1.8 billion dong to remedy the damage in the case. Therefore, the Procuracy proposed the trial panel to sentence defendant Truong Quoc Cuong to 4-5 years in prison (previously suggested 7-8 years in prison).

A representative of the Hanoi People’s Procuracy also noted that defendant Nguyen Minh Hung had lobbied his family to pay 5 billion dong. Therefore, the People’s Procuracy asked the Trial Panel to sentence this defendant to 18-19 years in prison (previously, 20 years was recommended). Defendant Truong Quoc Cuong was recommended 4-5 years in prison (previously 7-8 years). Defendant Pham Hong Chau, former head of the Department of Drug Administration, was recommended from 5-6 years in prison (previously proposed from 7-8 years) to five years in prison; Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, former deputy head of the department, was sentenced to 3 years 6 months to 4 years and 6 months in prison (before 4-5 years). 4 other defendants in the case were also proposed by the Procuracy to reduce their prison terms by 1 year compared to the previous one.

It is expected that at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, May 19, the jury will pronounce the sentence on defendant Truong Quoc Cuong and his accomplices.

Before that, the representative of the Hanoi People’s Procuracy asked the first-instance court to sentence defendant Truong Quoc Cuong to a sentence of 7 to 8 years in prison; propose to sentence defendant Nguyen Viet Hung, former deputy director of the Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health, to 3-4 years in prison; Le Dinh Thanh, former Ho Chi Minh City customs officer, was sentenced to 2-3 years in prison for the same crime of “lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences”.

Defendant Pham Hong Chau, former head of the Department of Drug Administration, was recommended 7-8 years in prison; Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, former deputy head of the department, was recommended 4-5 years in prison together for the crime of abusing positions and powers while on official duty.

For the group of defendants accused of trading in counterfeit goods and medicines, the People’s Procuracy proposed to fine defendant Nguyen Minh Hung, former chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of VN Pharma, and Vo Manh Cuong, former director of the International Maritime Company. M&C, and 20 years in prison. Combined with the previous sentences, the People’s Procuracy proposes to punish these two defendants with a total sentence of 30 years in prison. The remaining 7 defendants were recommended sentences ranging from 8 years to 16 years in prison.

At the litigation part, the representative of the People’s Procuracy said that this is a particularly serious and complicated case, involving many agencies and departments of the State from the central to local levels, many business companies. domestic and foreign pharmaceutical products and is of particular interest to the public. The case brought to trial demonstrates the determination of the Party and State in resolutely handling all law violations and crimes. The acts of the accused have left very heavy political and economic consequences, which need to be dealt with strictly before the law.

The representative of the People’s Procuracy assessed that former Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong did not fulfill his responsibilities, lacked supervision and inspection of the activities of the group of appraisal experts and was the one who agreed to consider and approve the grant of drug registration numbers while the dossiers were submitted. not enough condition. In addition, after receiving warning information about the “non-standard” batch of drugs labeled Health 2000 Canada, defendant Truong Quoc Cuong did not direct the suspension of circulation or revoke the application for drug registration number. As a result, millions of boxes of counterfeit medicines are put on the market to treat patients.

During the trial, defendant Truong Quoc Cuong only admitted the responsibility of the head of the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health). However, the defendant later admitted the violations as alleged by the People’s Procuracy.

As for the group of defendants who are former officers at the Drug Administration of Vietnam, they were irresponsible and had personal motives, so they violated their official duties during the assessment and approval process of 7 counterfeit medicines with the Health 2000 Canada label issued by the group. at VN Pharma and H&C Company.

As for the defendants at VN Pharma and H&C Company, they colluded to forge many contracts and documents, intentionally changing the origin of drugs to get the drug shipment with a total value of more than 25 billion dong to be cleared. After that, the defendants falsely raised the value of the drug to more than 54 billion VND.

According to Nguyen Huong