Sentencing of 38 defendants in the Viet A test kit 'big case'

On the afternoon of January 12, after 10 days of trial, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced 38 defendants in the case involving Viet A Technology Joint Stock Company (Viet A Company), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science and Technology and several localities.

According to the jury, in the process of considering punishment, the court carefully considered the "merits" and "crimes" of each defendant. Defendants who went against the interests of humanity would be severely punished; defendants who played a secondary role, followed instructions or did not benefit... would be lenient.

With the above spirit, among the 38 defendants, General Director of Viet A Company Phan Quoc Viet is the only one sentenced to a sentence within the prosecution's penalty framework: 29 years in prison for 2 crimes of bribery and violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences.

The other 36 defendants, including six former officials charged with bribery, were sentenced below the maximum sentence.

In particular, the former Director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of Binh Duong province, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Danh, was exempted from criminal liability. The court determined that, despite his wrongdoings, Mr. Danh did not seek personal gain, "dared to think, dared to act", for the sake of people's health.