Former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital sentenced to 21 years in prison, compensation of 102 billion

On December 1, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Minh Quan (former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital) to 21 years in prison and Nguyen Van Loi (Director of Nguyen Tam Production Service Trading Company Limited) to 15 years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering.

In addition to the above penalty, defendant Quan is banned from holding positions related to bidding for a period of 3 years.

Cựu Giám đốc Bệnh viện TP Thủ Đức lĩnh 21 năm tù, bồi thường 102 tỷ - 1 — Defendant Nguyen Minh Quan received 21 years in prison (Photo: Tho Moc).

Defendant Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem (51 years old, wife of defendant Quan) received a 3-year suspended sentence for Money Laundering.

The remaining defendants in the case were sentenced to 2 years and 6 months to 3 years and 6 months in prison for violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences.

According to the panel of judges, based on the case file and the developments at the trial, there is sufficient evidence to determine that the defendant Quan took advantage of his position as director and head of the hospital to direct and pressure his subordinates and members of the bidding committees to sign to legalize bidding documents, "collusion, fraud in bidding, and failure to ensure transparency in bidding activities".

The investigation results determined that from 2016 to 2020, a group of 4 companies managed by Loi participated in bidding and were the default winners of 27/28 bidding packages at Thu Duc City Hospital, with a total value of more than 345.2 billion VND.

Despite knowing that the bidding companies were Nguyen Minh Quan's "backyard", the staff at Thu Duc City Hospital still prepared documents and followed instructions, causing loss of state assets.

Cựu Giám đốc Bệnh viện TP Thủ Đức lĩnh 21 năm tù, bồi thường 102 tỷ - 2 — Defendants in court (Photo: Xuan Duy).

From the above actions, defendant Nguyen Minh Quan appropriated 102 billion VND of the State's money. After embezzling the assets, the former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital directed Nguyen Van Loi to transfer the assets of Quan and his wife to buy properties.

Defendant Loi knew about Mr. Quan's bid rigging tricks but still assisted, using the names of 4 companies to participate in bidding and winning the bid in reverse. From there, he assisted the former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital to embezzle 102 billion VND.

Defendant Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem knew that the source of the 102 billion VND was from crime, but still helped her husband hide it and buy real estate.

From that, the panel of judges determined that the Supreme People's Procuracy's indictment against Nguyen Minh Quan and his accomplices was correct in terms of the person and the crime, and there was no injustice.

At court, Nguyen Minh Quan's defense attorney argued that his client did not commit the crime of embezzlement. The panel of judges determined that the defendant was a person in a position of authority who had abused his position and power to appropriate state assets, so there was no basis to consider the attorney's above opinion.

According to the People's Court in this case, many defendants are doctors, have made many contributions to society, have good personal records, their families have contributed to the revolution, and have overcome some consequences.

After realizing his wrongdoing, the defendant Quan proactively used all of his assets to remedy the consequences of the case. Therefore, the panel of judges considered reducing part of his sentence.

Although defendant Loi transferred 103 billion VND to Quan, through inspection and comparison, Thu Duc City Hospital transferred 102 billion VND to Loi's companies. Applying the principle in favor of the defendants, the panel of judges determined that Nguyen Minh Quan embezzled 102 billion VND.

Because the above amount was transferred to defendant Quan's account, the court forced him to compensate the State for all damages.

During the investigation, defendant Loi returned 14 billion VND to remedy the consequences. The panel of judges said that this was another legal relationship that would be resolved when requested by the parties.

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