Former CDC Director Nguyen Nhat Cam at the court (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Court of Hanoi onDecember 10 opened the first-instance trial on the case of “violations onbidding regulations of that causes serious consequences” at the Hanoi Centrefor Disease Control (CDC Hanoi).
There are 10 defendants involving in the case, including six from the CDC - formerCDC Director Nguyen Nhat Cam; Nguyen Vu Ha Thanh, former head ofFinancial-Accounting Office; Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, former head of theOrganisation Office; Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, former head of the Professional PlanOffice; Hoang Kim Thu, former chief accountant; Le Xuan Tuan, a CDC official.
The four others are from private companies: Dao The Vinh, Director of theVietnam Scientific and Material Science Company Limited (MST); Nguyen Tran Duy,General Director of the Nhan Thanh Asset Valuation and Auctioning JSC; NguyenNgoc Nhat, an employee of the Vitech Development Co., Ltd; and Nguyen ThanhTuyen, an employee of the Phuong Dong Medical Equipment Co., Ltd.
Twenty-seven lawyers have registered to defend thedefendants at the court.
According to the indictment by the Supreme People’sProcuracy, taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation, from early February2020, CDC former Director Nguyen Nhat Cam colluded with Nhat, Tuyen and Vinh toraise the prices of medical machineries and equipment in a bidding package fromCDC Hanoi before carrying out normal procedures.
Hethen directed his employees to legalise all normal procedures, enabling MST towin the bid with a price they had agreed upon, resulting in an economic loss ofover 5.4 billion VND (233,200 USD).
Procurators said Cam was the mastermind.
The defendants earlier confessed to police that they jacked up the price of theReverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines used intesting the new coronavirus by a factor of three./.
VNA
