Proposal to sentence former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital to 21-23 years in prison

On the afternoon of November 30, the trial of defendants Nguyen Minh Quan (former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital) and Nguyen Van Loi (Director of Nguyen Tam Production Service Trading Company Limited) for the crimes of Embezzlement of Property and Money Laundering began.

At the beginning of the trial, the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy expressed his opinion on the case and proposed the penalty for each defendant.

Đề nghị phạt cựu Giám đốc Bệnh viện TP Thủ Đức 21-23 năm tù - 1 — Defendants in court (Photo: Tho Moc).

According to the People's Procuracy, during his work, defendant Nguyen Minh Quan established a system of companies to participate in bidding, inflated the price of medical supplies, and directed his subordinates to violate regulations so that his "backyard" company could win the bid and that defendant Quan's company could win the reverse bid. The reality was exactly as the former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital had wanted.

Defendant Quan is the owner of 4 companies directly participating in the bidding. The former director of Thu Duc City Hospital hired Nguyen Van Loi to work for him to participate in the bidding, using fraudulent means to appropriate 103 billion VND.

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 People's Procuracy determined that Nguyen Minh Quan embezzled 102 billion VND.

The People's Procuracy believes that in this case, Nguyen Minh Quan is the mastermind and leader, so he needs to be severely punished.

Đề nghị phạt cựu Giám đốc Bệnh viện TP Thủ Đức 21-23 năm tù - 2 — Defendant Quan was proposed to be sentenced to 21-23 years in prison (Photo: Xuan Duy).

According to the representative of the prosecution agency, defendant Loi was an active assistant to Quan in embezzlement of property and money laundering.

Regarding the defendants who were former employees of Thu Duc City Hospital, the representative of the People's Procuracy said that they did not comply with bidding regulations, causing damage to state assets.

Defendant Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem (Quan's wife) knew the origin of the assets obtained from criminal acts but still bought the real estate, so there was sufficient basis to determine that she was an accomplice with Mr. Quan in the crime of Money Laundering.

In this case, the defendants had full capacity to act, but for personal gain or insufficient awareness, they committed the crime. The prosecution determined that the defendants' actions were especially dangerous to society, committed the crime multiple times, and caused public outrage.

In addition, the People's Procuracy determined that in this case, the defendants confessed honestly, were fully aware of their crimes, had good personal records, and had made many contributions to society.

Defendant Quan is a good doctor, has made great contributions to the construction of Thu Duc City Hospital, has many initiatives in medical examination and treatment, the defendant has paid 500 million VND to remedy the consequences, so the Council of Judges should consider this when sentencing.

The People's Procuracy assessed that although the defendant Quan had not yet paid the full amount of embezzled money (embezzled 102 billion VND, paid 500 million VND), the amount of seized assets was likely enough to recover, so a reduction in sentence should be considered.

From the above analysis, the People's Procuracy proposed that the People's Court sentence defendant Nguyen Minh Quan to 21-23 years in prison and Nguyen Van Loi to 16-18 years in prison for the crimes of Embezzlement of Property and Money Laundering.

Defendant Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem (Quan's wife) was proposed to be sentenced to 2 years and 6 months to 3 years and 6 months in prison for Money Laundering. The remaining defendants in the case were proposed to be sentenced to 2 years and 6 months to 4 years and 6 months in prison for Violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences.

Regarding civil matters, the People's Procuracy proposed that the People's Court order Quan to pay compensation of 102 billion VND.

The trial is now in session.

The indictment determined 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.

Quan directed Loi to transfer or withdraw cash to him or Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem.

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