Viet A Trial Diary: The Viet A Owner's Arguments and the Prosecutor's "Slap in the Face"

After two days of trial, the Viet A trial at the Military Court of Hanoi entered the deliberation period. The verdict is expected to be delivered on the afternoon of December 29th.

During the court proceedings, both the defendants and the prosecution appeared to share the view that those on trial were not innocent. However, the defendants, particularly Phan Quoc Viet (General Director of Viet A Company) and Ho Anh Son (former Deputy Director of the Institute of Military Medical Research, Military Medical Academy), argued that they were forced to violate the law due to the pandemic.

"A destined partnership" between Viet A and the Military Medical Academy.

According to the allegations and proceedings at the trial, Viet A and the defendants at the Military Medical Academy colluded and committed fraud to allow the company to "borrow" the Academy's research project to approve test kit products and obtain commercial production licenses.

The subjective factor leading to this is that the Military Medical Academy does not have any products that have been accepted for testing, and the objective factor is that this unit does not meet the ISO requirements.

Therefore, the "marriage" between Viet A and the Military Medical Academy was established through the matchmaking efforts of the defendant Trinh Thanh Hung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology ).

Defendant Phan Quoc Viet at the trial (Photo: Nguyen Hai).

In court, the aforementioned defendants asserted that there was no personal gain or ulterior motive behind this collaboration.

Mr. Hung claimed that he only facilitated the connection and did not suggest or promise to receive money from Viet; Viet stated that he participated because he believed that at that time, Viet A was a leading company in the production of test kits.

According to Viet's testimony, even without collaborating with the Military Medical Academy, Viet A had already been researching and producing Covid-19 tests as soon as the outbreak began in China.

"The defendant can affirm that Viet A's role and contribution to the success of the Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control was very significant. Viet A's participation in the fight against the pandemic was out of responsibility to the country, as the country needed Viet A's test kits at that time," said the General Director of Viet A.

Notably, the defendants all claimed that Viet A's test kit was more effective and of higher quality than the product researched by the Military Medical Academy.

"If you were in my situation, faced with the quality of these two types of kits, which one would you choose, and what would you do?", said former Lieutenant Colonel and former Deputy Director of the Institute of Military Medical Research, Military Medical Academy, Ho Anh Son, in court.

Defendant Ho Anh Son at the trial on December 28 (Photo: Nam Anh).

Furthermore, Viet asserted that "only Viet A has the testing kits," and even if other units later produce them, they cannot match the quality of Viet A's tests.

"The whole country needs Viet A for testing kits to fight the epidemic," defendant Viet explained, adding that he had invested hundreds of billions of dong and sent many people to bravely fight in the midst of the epidemic.

Based on the above factors, combined with the context of the pandemic, the defendants argued that they had no other choice.

"Even if it were repeated a thousand times and I knew the result would be the same today, I would still do it. I believe that in that context, others would certainly do the same," Phan Quoc Viet explained at the witness stand.

Clearly motivated by self-interest.

In response to the defendants' arguments, the prosecution presented counterarguments and counter-arguments.

Firstly, denying any profit motive, the prosecutor's representative pointed out that former Lieutenant Colonel and former Deputy Director of the Military Medical Research Institute, Military Medical Academy, Ho Anh Son, had asked many scientists to act as nominees for research projects even though they did not conduct the research, in order to receive 2.8 billion VND allocated for research; and Viet A participated in the Military Medical Academy's research project with the aim of obtaining product distribution and licensing.

Regarding Mr. Ho Anh Son's self-questioning of "what should be done?", the representative of the Procuratorate stated that, as a manager, the defendant had a responsibility to consider and assess whether he could independently carry out the proposed research topic on test kits.

The representative of the Procuratorate responds to the defense lawyers' arguments (Photo: Nguyen Hai).

Therefore, when accepting the Ministry of Science and Technology's request to deliver a product within one month, the defendant felt responsible for whether or not this requirement could be fulfilled.

"Therefore, the defendants' motive for personal gain is very clear; whether they conducted research or not, they still took more than 18 billion VND from the State budget," the representative of the Procuratorate responded.

Regarding the arguments that "the defendants committed the crime in a situation exceeding the urgent circumstances, having no other choice in epidemic prevention and control, and obeying orders from superiors...", the Procuratorate argues that the purchase and sale of test kits between Viet A Company and the Military Medical Academy for epidemic prevention and control took place through numerous contracts over a long period, and therefore was no longer considered an urgent situation.

Final words

Given the opportunity to speak their final words, the defendants mostly accepted responsibility and asked the court for leniency.

"The defendant's wrongdoing was unintentional, not deliberate," said Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung, respectfully requesting the court to consider mitigating circumstances so that he can soon return to his family to care for his elderly, ailing mother.

Former Lieutenant Colonel and former Deputy Director of the Institute of Military Medical Research, Military Medical Academy, Ho Anh Son, said that he was once a member of the Party, but was expelled due to misconduct and "only regretted it after losing it."

Defendant Trinh Thanh Hung at the trial (Photo: Nguyen Hai).

"The defendant also once wore a military uniform, with 30 years of proud service. However, the defendant's wrongdoings have affected the military, especially the Military Medical Academy," Mr. Son stated.

The former army colonel advised his former colleagues to maintain their enthusiasm for research, not to be swayed by the fact that the accused is facing legal troubles, and not to be overly calculating or petty when dealing with important matters.

Meanwhile, Viet A General Director Phan Quoc Viet hoped the court would consider his merits and the context of the crime, stating that it was "entirely for the common good of the country" and taking into account the value of Viet A's test kits during the pandemic, in order to give the defendant a lighter sentence.

In the indictment, the representative of the Procuratorate proposed that the Panel of Judges sentence the defendant Trinh Thanh Hung (former Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology for Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology) to 15 years in prison for the crime of Abusing Position and Authority while Performing Official Duties.

For the same charges, the prosecutor recommended a sentence of 11-13 years imprisonment for defendant Ho Anh Son (former Deputy Director of the Institute of Military Medical Research, Military Medical Academy).

Regarding the charge of violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences, the Procuratorate proposed that the Court sentence defendant Nguyen Van Hieu (former Colonel, former Head of the Equipment and Supplies Department of the Military Medical Academy) to 7-8 years in prison; defendant Ngo Anh Tuan (former Major, former Head of the Finance Department of the Military Medical Academy) to 3-5 years in prison; defendant Le Truong Minh (former Major, former Head of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department of the Military Medical Academy) to 6-7 years in prison; and defendant Vu Dinh Hiep (Deputy General Director of Viet A Company) to 6-7 years in prison.

Specifically, Phan Quoc Viet , General Director of Viet A Company, was recommended by the Procuratorate to be sentenced to 15 years in prison for abusing his position and authority while performing his official duties; 10-11 years in prison for violating regulations on bidding causing serious consequences; the combined sentence recommended is 25-26 years in prison.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/phap-luat/nhat-ky-xet-xu-viet-a-ly-le-cua-ong-chu-viet-a-va-cai-tat-cua-vks-20231229042720216.htm