Taking bribes, assisting in counterfeit goods: Former director of food safety department prosecuted

A batch of fake functional foods worth up to 100 tons was discovered and seized by the police - Photo: Provided by the police

On May 13, the Department of Investigation Police on Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling (C03, Ministry of Public Security) prosecuted Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong - former Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health), Dinh Quang Minh - Director of the Center for Application and Training of Food Safety, Nguyen Thi Minh Hai - Deputy Director of the Center for Application and Training of Food Safety, Le Thi Hien - Center specialist and Cao Van Trung - Deputy Head of the Poisoning Monitoring Department - for accepting bribes. In which, the preventive measure of prohibiting Nguyen Thi Minh Hai from leaving her place of residence was applied and the remaining four defendants were arrested and detained.

Bribery to get GMP certificate for factory

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong - former Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) - Photo: Ministry of Public Security

The prosecution of the above five people is part of the expanded investigation into the case of counterfeiting hundreds of tons of functional foods by Nguyen Nang Manh (director of MegaPhaco Company, chairman of the board of directors of MEDIUSA Company - headquartered in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) and his accomplices.

According to the investigation agency's documents, since 2016, Nguyen Nang Manh, Do Manh Hoang, and Khuc Minh Vu have organized and operated 9 companies, MediPhar Factory and MEDIUSA Factory, producing and consuming fake functional foods in exceptionally large quantities and diverse types.

According to Tuoi Tre 's investigation, the list of 470 establishments that have been granted certificates of factories meeting functional food production standards announced by the Food Safety Department includes the names of these two companies.

MEDIUSA Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (address: Lot CN A5, Phu Nghia Industrial Park, Phu Nghia Commune, Chuong My District, Hanoi) was licensed on August 13, 2020 and is valid until August 13, 2023.

Manufacturing plant - MediPhar Joint Venture Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (located at Phu Nghia Industrial Park, Phu Nghia Commune, Chuong My District, Hanoi) was licensed on December 22, 2020 and is valid until December 22, 2023.

According to regulations, the condition for producing functional foods is that the manufacturing plant must be assessed by the Food Safety Department and granted a GMP certificate with a validity of three years.

In addition, the condition for consuming functional foods on the market is that the product must be granted a certificate of product quality standards by the Food Safety Department.

Therefore, to produce and consume fake functional foods on the market, Nguyen Nang Manh and Do Manh Hoang agreed to pay "lobby" money to the Food Safety Department for appraisal, post-inspection and licensing of product announcement.

In order for MEDIUSA and MediPhar factories to be assessed, post-inspected, granted GMP certificates and put into production soon, Manh and Hoang paid the assessment inspection team (chaired by the Food Safety Department) more than 1 billion VND to reduce the number of errors during assessment, to be instructed on how to fix them, and to be given time to fix the errors.

The authorities accused MEDIUSA and MediPhar of only doing a cursory, formal process to fix the errors. Cao Van Trung also only evaluated the two companies' reports on the existing errors based on the documents and photos sent by the two companies, without checking their authenticity.

Since then, the Food Safety Department has issued four GMP certificates to MEDIUSA Company and MediPhar Company, creating conditions for MEDIUSA Company and MediPhar Company to produce fake food in large quantities.

Tons of fake functional foods piled up in warehouses - Photo: Provided by the police

Hundreds of tons of fake food sold to the elderly and children

Regarding the case, on April 26, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency prosecuted, issued arrest warrants, and search warrants for five people including Nguyen Nang Manh, Do Manh Hoang (directors of MediPhar Company), Khuc Minh Vu (director of Viet Duc Company), Pham Thi Huong (accountant in charge of four companies MediPhar, MEDIUSA, MegaLife, Hung Phuong), and Le Thi Toan (treasurer of six companies MediPhar, MEDIUSA, MegaLife, Hung Phuong, MegaPhaco, Viet Duc).

According to the investigation, since 2016, Nguyen Nang Manh and his accomplices have established and operated many companies to legalize the production and trade of fake functional foods. Police determined that the suspects used the trick of printing on the packaging and labels of products imported from the US, Europe... but in reality, they were mainly imported from China and bought illegally on the market.

In terms of quality indicators, many components only achieved less than 30% of the declared level. The consumers that this group aims to sell products to are mainly the elderly and children.

Searching warehouses and a number of business establishments, the Ministry of Public Security seized an exceptionally large quantity of functional foods, diverse in types, widely distributed throughout the country, with a total of about 100 tons of functional foods seized.

A batch of fake functional foods worth up to 100 tons was discovered and seized by the police - Photo: Provided by the police

Add billions to get product declaration certificate

The police investigation agency also clarified the violations in the issuance of product declaration certificates. According to the investigation, the product declaration license application of Nguyen Nang Manh's group of companies did not have to be amended or supplemented many times, prolonging the licensing process or not granting a license.

Nguyen Nang Manh and Do Manh Hoang directed employee Hoang Thi Huong to give more than 2 billion to the specialist receiving the application for product declaration license at the Department of Food Safety. From there, the leaders and employees of the Department of Food Safety created conditions to license 207 products for nine groups of companies of Nguyen Nang Manh.

What are the regulations for granting production certificates and product declarations?

According to the Ministry of Health's guidelines, health supplements (health supplements, dietary supplements) are products used to supplement the daily diet to maintain, enhance, improve the functions of the human body and reduce the risk of disease.

To ensure food safety conditions in the production of health protection foods, in addition to general regulations on ensuring food safety, production units must comply with strict regulations from the quality management system, ensuring published standards to employees with professional qualifications appropriate to the job position and many other strict production regulations.

After the companies submit all relevant documents, within 15 working days, the agency receiving the documents is responsible for establishing an appraisal team and conducting an on-site assessment at the facility. If the appraisal results meet the requirements, the receiving agency will issue a certificate of food safety qualified facility meeting Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements for health protection foods within no more than 30 working days.

In case the assessment results at the facility do not meet the requirements, the assessment team will request to correct and resolve the application within 3 months. According to current regulations, the cost for one time of issuing a certificate is 22,500,000 VND.

Also according to regulations of the Ministry of Health, the certificate of food safety qualified facility meeting Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements for health protection foods is valid for three years from the date of issue.

Six months before the expiration date, the facility is responsible for submitting an application to re-issue the certificate of food safety qualified facility meeting Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements for health protection foods.

The authority to grant a certificate of acceptance of the declaration of compliance with food safety regulations for functional foods is delegated to the Department of Food Safety for decision.

Unlike self-declared products, the dossier for granting a certificate of acceptance must comply with food safety regulations; product testing results within 12 months, including indicators according to the requirements of the corresponding technical regulations, of a designated testing laboratory or an accredited independent testing laboratory or an accepted testing laboratory.

Information and scientific documents proving the effects of each ingredient that creates the declared function. Product samples and other relevant regulations.

The application processing time is within 30 working days and the application fee is 150,000 VND/1 product for the application for declaration of compliance with food safety regulations.

Although the regulations are very clear and strict, in order to produce and consume fake functional foods on the market, these companies agree to pay "lobby" money to the Food Safety Department for appraisal, post-inspection and licensing of product announcement, helping hundreds of fake products to be put on the market.

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DUONG LIEU - Danh Trong

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhan-hoi-lo-tiep-tay-cho-hang-gia-nguyen-cuc-truong-an-toan-thuc-pham-bi-khoi-to-20250514074902789.htm