The truth about the quality of Viet A test kits.

According to the investigation conclusions of the Ministry of Public Security , through inflating the prices of input materials, Viet A Company illegally profited thousands of billions of VND from the Covid-19 test kits supplied to medical units and facilities nationwide.

To date, the wrongdoing of Viet A Company in misappropriating state assets ( scientific research results) and inflating the price of test kits is clear. However, a question many people have been asking since the case was first initiated is whether the millions of test kits sold by Viet A were actually of good quality.

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

How did the Viet A test kit "come into existence"?

According to the case file, Viet A Company has a charter capital of 1,000 billion VND, with the defendant Phan Quoc Viet serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director. Mr. and Mrs. Viet own more than 71% of the charter capital.

The company has its head office in Ward 9, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City; a branch in An Binh Ward, Di An City, Binh Duong Province; and two 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-level science and technology task on researching and manufacturing RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR kits for detecting the new 2019 coronavirus strain (referred to as the Covid-19 test kit research project - PV).

Quick update at 12 PM on August 21st: Former Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister was astonished by a multi-billion VND gift package from Viet A, but still accepted it.

The project, led by the Military Medical Academy in collaboration with Viet A Company, has a budget of nearly 19 billion VND, allocated from the central government's science and technology budget.

The project involved two phases in the production of Covid-19 test kits by Viet A Company. The first phase involved the trial production of 200,000 test kits for the Ministry of Health; the second phase was commercial production, supplying kits to medical units and facilities nationwide.

In mid-February 2020, based on initial research by the Military Medical Academy that discovered three genetic codes of the Covid-19 virus, Viet A Company imported raw materials and purchased supplies to conduct trial production of 200,000 test kits.

Based on the results of the pilot production, Viet A Company used a positive control (specimen) from the Military Medical Academy to successfully test the diagnostic test.

Viet A Company's branch in Binh Duong province

After completing the process and successfully producing the test kit, Mr. Phan Quoc Viet proposed, and Mr. Ho Anh Son (the research project leader) and Mr. Trinh Thanh Hung (Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology for Economic and Technical Sectors, Ministry of Science and Technology) agreed, for Viet A Company to prepare the dossier and submit it to the Ministry of Health for registration. According to the investigation, this was against regulations because the research results belonged to the State, not Viet A Company.

In late February 2020, the Military Medical Academy sent a request to the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to collaborate on testing the test kit produced by Viet A Company. One month later, the Biomedical Research Center of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology completed its evaluation. Based on this, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology issued a report evaluating the test kit.

Rushing to transfer research results.

In March 2020, following a proposal by Mr. Phan Quoc Viet, the Ministry of Science and Technology established a council to evaluate and approve phase 1 of the research project on the Covid-19 test kit. This approval process was not in accordance with regulations, as the law only stipulates approval at the end of a project, not phased approval.

As a result, the evaluation and acceptance council for phase 1 recommended that the Ministry of Health grant permission for the use of the test kit. Mr. Phan Quoc Viet then used this acceptance report to submit documents to the Ministry of Health, and was granted a registration number for circulation that was not intended for the intended purpose. This was also an important stepping stone that helped Viet A Company produce large quantities of Covid-19 test kits to supply to medical facilities.

From 2020 to 2021, Viet A Company produced over 8.7 million test kits; sold, donated, or provided in advance over 8.3 million test kits to medical units and facilities nationwide (illustrative image).

It wasn't until November 2021, nearly two years after the Ministry of Science and Technology approved the project, that the Military Medical Academy issued a document evaluating and accepting the results of the Covid-19 test kit research project. To conduct the acceptance process, the Ministry of Science and Technology established a council and a team of expert consultants.

At the end of December 2021, the National Advisory Council for Evaluation and Acceptance met and evaluated the research project on the Covid-19 test kit, concluding that it met the requirements. The minutes included a statement recommending that the Ministry of Science and Technology grant widespread use rights to organizations and businesses in need for the production and commercialization of the results, serving timely epidemic prevention and control efforts.

However, in reality, as early as December 2020, Viet A Company had already been granted official registration by the Ministry of Health for its Covid-19 test kit product, allowing it to begin production one year ahead of the conclusion of the National Advisory Council for Evaluation and Acceptance.

The wrongdoing occurred when research results were improperly delivered to Viet A Company, transforming state-owned assets into corporate assets.

When putting the product into commercial production, Viet A Company, under the direction of the defendant Phan Quoc Viet, inflated the price of raw materials by nearly three times (from 143,000 VND/test kit to 470,000 VND/test kit). This price was negotiated by the Ministry of Health, even though there was no basis for it.

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

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