How did a car wash employee help the former Director of Thu Duc Hospital embezzle billions?

On the afternoon of November 29, 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) was held for the crimes of Embezzlement of property and Money Laundering.

In the morning session, the panel of judges spent time completing initial procedures and the prosecutor announced the indictment. Entering the afternoon session, the court began questioning the defendants.

Defendant Loi in court (Photo: Xuan Duy).

As the first person to step up to the witness stand, defendant Loi admitted to all the crimes as alleged in the indictment. He said he was the one who founded and managed 4 companies under the direction of Mr. Quan.

When asked by the court about the purpose of establishing the above legal entities, defendant Loi said it was for the purpose of buying and selling supplies for Thu Duc City Hospital.

Regarding his relationship with the former Director of Thu Duc City Hospital, defendant Loi said he used to be an employee at a car wash in Phu Nhuan District. Once, Mr. Quan came to wash cars, so he got to know him and was hired by this person to stand in the name of the companies.

After registering the companies, under the direction of Mr. Quan, defendant Loi inflated the prices of medical equipment and supplies by 30% to 50% and then carried out the next procedures (bidding) to sell them to the hospital.

After successfully carrying out the "mission", Loi's companies had their financial obligations fulfilled by Thu Duc City Hospital. This person transferred the money to the defendant Quan and his wife as requested.

In addition to using the company name, inflating assets, and bidding, defendant Loi stated that he also transferred money to Mr. Quan and his wife to buy houses in Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa), District 1 (HCMC), Thu Duc City (HCMC) and 2 cars. Regarding the source of money to buy the above assets, the male defendant said that he did it at the request of defendant Quan and his wife.

The judge asked: "For what purpose did the defendant commit the above acts?" Defendant Loi said he acted under orders and received a salary of 40 million VND/month.

Regarding the case, defendant Loi stated that he was the owner of a plot of land in Truong Tho ward (Thu Duc city) for Mr. Quan and his wife.

Immediately, the panel questioned the defendant Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem (Mr. Quan's wife). She said she did not know about this property and her husband's business so she did not know.

Next, the court questioned defendant Ngo Truong Ngoc Bich, head of the medical supplies department. Bich stated that at first she did not know that Loi's companies were Mr. Quan's "backyard" companies. Later, Mr. Quan directed that they only contact Loi's companies and those companies continuously won bids, so the female defendant said she implicitly understood that the winning company belonged to Mr. Quan.

The trial is continuing.

Defendants in court (Photo: Tho Moc).

According to the indictment, from 2016 to 2020, Thu Duc City Hospital organized bidding for 31 medical equipment procurement packages to serve medical examination and treatment. Of these, 28 packages had approved winning bids and completed payments with a total value of more than 346.2 billion VND.

To intervene and take over the entire above mentioned bidding package, defendant Nguyen Minh Quan directed Nguyen Van Loi (an employee of Quan and his wife) to establish and use "backyard" companies.

When participating in the bidding for medical equipment at Thu Duc City Hospital, Mr. Quan directed defendant Loi to assign employees to create false and roundabout sales contracts between companies in the group to raise the price of equipment and machinery higher than the market price.

This person used 3 of the 4 companies that Loi managed to submit bids with inflated prices for machinery and equipment. When preparing the bidding documents, Loi intentionally created a document with better criteria than the other two, with the intention of having one company win the bid.

The indictment also 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, the 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. After deducting the purchase price and salary expenses, bank loan interest, taxes, office expenses, etc., the amount of money Mr. Quan embezzled was 103.6 billion VND.

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

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/phap-luat/nhan-vien-tiem-rua-xe-giup-cuu-giam-doc-bv-thu-duc-tham-o-tien-ty-the-nao-20231129151941510.htm