The truth about the quality of Viet A test kits

According to the investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security, through inflating the price of input materials, Viet A Company illegally profited thousands of billions of VND from the number of Covid-19 test kits provided to medical units and facilities across the country.

Up to now, the violations of Viet A Company in appropriating state assets (scientific research results) and inflating the price of test kits have been clear. But there is a question that many people have asked, right from the time the case was first prosecuted, which is whether the millions of Viet A test kits sold are really of good quality.

Viet A Company is accused of inflating the price of test kits by nearly 3 times, illegally profiting thousands of billions of dong.

How was Viet A test kit "born"?

The case file shows that Viet A Company has a charter capital of 1,000 billion VND, with defendant Phan Quoc Viet holding the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director. Mr. Viet and his wife own more than 71% of the charter capital.

The company is headquartered in Ward 9, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City; a branch in An Binh Ward, Di An City, Binh Duong Province and 2 business locations in Que Phu Commune, Que Son District and Tam Thang Commune, Tam Ky City, Quang Nam Province.

In February 2020, due to the impact of Covid-19, the Minister of Science and Technology signed a decision approving a national science and technology task on research and manufacturing of RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR kits to detect the new 2019 Corona virus strain (referred to as the Covid-19 test kit research topic - PV).

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The project is chaired by the Military Medical Academy in coordination with Viet A Company, with a budget of nearly 19 billion VND, drawn from the Central Science and Technology budget.

During the project implementation process, Viet A Company has 2 phases of producing Covid-19 test kits. The first phase is the trial production of 200,000 test kits to supply to the Ministry of Health; the second phase is commercial production, supplying to medical units and facilities across the country.

In mid-February 2020, based on initial research by the Military Medical Academy when discovering 3 gene codes of the Covid-19 virus, Viet A Company imported raw materials and purchased materials to produce 200,000 test kits.

From the results of the trial production, Viet A Company used positive evidence (pathological samples) from the Military Medical Academy to successfully test the test.

Viet A Company Branch in Binh Duong Province

After completing the process and successfully producing the test, Mr. Phan Quoc Viet requested and was approved by Mr. Ho Anh Son (head of the research project) and Trinh Thanh Hung (Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology for Economic and Technical Sectors of the Ministry of Science and Technology) for Viet A Company to prepare a dossier to send to the Ministry of Health for a registration number. This, according to the conclusion of the investigation agency, is against the regulations, because the research results belong to the State, not Viet A Company.

At the end of February 2020, the Military Medical Academy sent a document requesting the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to coordinate in testing the test kit produced by Viet A Company. One month later, the Biomedical Research Center under the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology completed the evaluation. On this basis, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology issued a test evaluation report.

Rush to transfer research results

In March 2020, based on the proposal of Mr. Phan Quoc Viet, the Ministry of Science and Technology established a council to evaluate and accept phase 1 of the Covid-19 test kit research project. Such acceptance is not in accordance with regulations, because the law only stipulates acceptance at the end of the project, not acceptance by phase.

As a result, the evaluation and acceptance council of phase 1 proposed that the Ministry of Health grant a license for the test. Mr. Phan Quoc Viet then used this acceptance report to send the dossier to the Ministry of Health, and was granted a registration number for the wrong subject. This was also an important stepping stone for Viet A Company to produce a large number of Covid-19 test kits to supply to medical facilities.

From 2020 to 2021, Viet A Company produced more than 8.7 million test kits; sold, donated, and advanced more than 8.3 million test kits to medical units and facilities across the country (illustrative photo)

It was not until November 2021, nearly 2 years after the Ministry of Science and Technology approved the project, that the Military Medical Academy issued an official dispatch to evaluate and accept the results of the Covid-19 test kit research project. To accept the project, the Ministry of Science and Technology established a council and a team of consulting experts.

At the end of December 2021, the National Acceptance Evaluation Advisory Council met and assessed the Covid-19 test kit research project as meeting the requirements. The minutes stated that "the Ministry of Science and Technology is requested to grant the right to widely use the results to organizations and businesses in need to produce and commercialize the results, serving timely epidemic prevention and control".

However, in fact, as early as December 2020, Viet A Company was granted an official circulation registration number by the Ministry of Health for the Covid-19 test kit to put into production 1 year ahead of the conclusion of the National Acceptance Evaluation Advisory Council.

Violations occurred when research results were transferred to the wrong subjects to Viet A Company, turning state-owned assets into corporate assets.

When put into commercial production, Viet A Company under the direction of defendant Phan Quoc Viet inflated the price of input materials nearly 3 times (from 143,000 VND/test kit to 470,000 VND/test kit). This price was negotiated by the Ministry of Health, although there was no basis.

As a result, from 2020 to 2021, Viet A Company produced more than 8.7 million test kits; sold, donated, and advanced more than 8.3 million test kits to medical units and facilities across the country; received payment for nearly 6 million test kits with a total value of more than VND 2,257 billion; thereby illegally profiting more than VND 1,235 billion.

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