'The defendant is fully capable of mitigating all consequences.'

VTC News•27/12/2023

On December 27th, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court continued the first-instance trial of defendants Hoa Cong Hau (former Director of the Tay Ninh Provincial Department of Health ), Le Thanh Lu (former Deputy Head of the Planning and Synthesis Department of the Tay Ninh Provincial Department of Health), and Hoang Thi Thuy Nga (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of NSJ Company) along with 11 accomplices for violating regulations on bidding causing serious consequences and negligence causing serious consequences.

Testifying in court, the defendant Nga stated that in October 2017, she met the Director of the Tay Ninh Provincial Department of Health at a seminar, at which time the Department of Health did not yet need to purchase a CT scanner.

Upon learning that Tay Ninh Provincial Hospital wanted to purchase this type of machine, the defendant Nga approached Le Thanh Lu, claiming her company distributed the equipment and requesting access to and supply it.

The chairman of NSJ admitted to giving gifts to the Director of the Department of Health as part of the company's policy of giving Tet gifts to partners, but denied giving 1 billion VND.

Defendant Hoang Thi Thuy Nga. (Photo: Hoang Tho)

Defendant Nga stated that she is ready to fully rectify the consequences of the case as ordered by the court and does not request any defendants to be held liable because, according to her, all of her seized assets are sufficient to cover the costs.

" The assets currently under seizure from the defendant are sufficient to fully compensate for the damages," defendant Nga said.

Defendant Hau admitted that after NSJ Company won the bid, defendant Nga sent gifts three times through NSJ Company employees, totaling 1 billion VND. The entire amount was returned by Mr. Hau's family.

" Ms. Nga approached the defendant before the procurement plan for the machinery had been approved, and there was no agreement on what benefits would be received upon winning the bid. However, the defendant subsequently received gifts three times. Ms. Nga had her employees deliver the gifts instead of giving them directly, including one billion dong in cash ," defendant Hau testified.

Defendant Lu also admitted to receiving three gift baskets from Ms. Nga's company on three separate occasions, containing cakes, candies, and 600 million VND.

According to the indictment, while serving as Director of the Tay Ninh Department of Health, Mr. Hau directed and directly signed documents requesting approval for the procurement and organization of bidding for a CT scanner for the Tay Ninh Provincial General Hospital. Mr. Hau is identified as the person legally responsible for the bidding process and contractor selection.

Knowing that the Tay Ninh Provincial Department of Health needed a 128-slice CT scanner for the provincial hospital, Hoang Thi Thuy Nga approached Mr. Hau in July 2017, introducing her company as a distributor of this equipment and proposing to supply it. Mr. Hau, knowing Nga had connections with many leaders and had won numerous medical equipment contracts in various provinces, agreed.

Mr. Hau instructed Mr. Le Thanh Lu to advise him to sign a submission to the Provincial People's Committee designating the purchase of a 128-slice CT Scanner system from NSJ Company, the official distributor in Tay Ninh province.

Next, Mr. Hau instructed Lu to draft a proposal to the Provincial People's Committee to designate the purchase of equipment distributed by a Russian company. During the bidding process, the Director of the Tay Ninh Department of Health instructed subordinates to process the documents in a way that gave NSJ an advantage in winning the bid.

After receiving the Director of the Department's agreement to help, Ms. Nga instructed her staff to approach officials from the Department of Health and persuade them to choose equipment supplied by her company; she also prepared bidding documents on behalf of several "dummy" companies. In reality, the parties agreed that NSJ would win the bid.

Authorities concluded that the value of the imaging equipment supplied by NSJ was over 14 billion VND. Therefore, the defendants' actions caused damage to state property exceeding 13 billion VND.

Between 2018 and 2020, without any prior promise or agreement, Mr. Hau received gifts from NSJ Company three times, totaling 1 billion VND. After the incident came to light, Mr. Hau returned the money.

However, Ms. Nga denied giving gifts or money to the investor and related parties. The "dummy" contractors, on the other hand, claimed they agreed to help NSJ Company out of respect and a desire to maintain the partnership, and did not receive any material benefits.

Ms. Nga was formerly the Deputy General Director of AIC Company, then became the Chairwoman of the Founding Board of NSJ Group and established 7 companies operating in various fields, entrusting subordinates to hold the legal entity titles. In reality, Ms. Nga invested the capital and managed all operations.

In addition to this case, combining the sentences handed down by the People's Courts of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Quang Ninh province, Ms. Nga must serve a total of 30 years in prison (the maximum sentence for a fixed-term prison sentence) for violating bidding regulations and giving bribes at: AIC and the Department of Health of Dong Nai, the Department of Health of Can Tho, and the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province.

Hoang Tho

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