Embezzlement of Covid-19 prevention materials, 2 defendants, former employees of Lam Dong CDC, received sentences

(LĐ online) - On the morning of July 10, the People's Court of Da Lat City brought the case of "Asset embezzlement" that occurred at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of Lam Dong province to public trial.

The two defendants Pham Thi Hoa and Nguyen Xuan Dat at the trial.

The two defendants prosecuted in this case are Pham Thi Hoa (53 years old, residing in Ward 6, Da Lat City) and Nguyen Xuan Dat (34 years old, temporarily residing in Ward 5, Da Lat City).

According to the indictment, Hoa and Dat were both assigned to be in charge of the Virus Lab - Molecular Biology under the Testing Department of Lam Dong CDC. During the Covid-19 epidemic, Hoa was assigned to manage Covid-19 PCR test items and consumables purchased by Lam Dong CDC from Viet A Company. Dat was assigned to perform Sar-Cov-2 testing techniques using PCR method, rapid Covid-19 testing using antigens...

To ensure supplies for epidemic prevention and control, in 2020 and 2021, Lam Dong CDC was assigned by Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee to be the investor of 7 procurement packages for biological products, chemicals, and medical supplies to prevent Covid-19. Lam Dong CDC signed a contract with Viet A Company to implement the 7 procurement packages mentioned above. Of these 7 packages, 2 packages were related to the embezzlement of assets by Hoa and Dat.

During the investigation, the police clarified that from the end of December 2020 to May 2021, taking advantage of being assigned to manage the use of biological products, chemicals and consumables, Hoa and Dat appropriated a number of biological products, chemicals and consumables of CDC Lam Dong and then sold them to Viet A Company, illegally profiting nearly 217 million VND to share for personal use.

Specifically, in package 3 of purchasing biological products and medical supplies for Covid-19 testing with Viet A Company, the two parties agreed to purchase and sell goods such as biological products and consumables with a total value of more than 802 million VND. On August 14, 2020, Lam Dong CDC handed over the above goods to Hoa and Dat for management and use to serve the Sar-CoV-2 testing work.

During the process of use, there were some chemicals and medical supplies that were not fully used, so Hoa discussed with Dat to sell them to Viet A Company through Ms. Dinh Le Le Na. From November to December 2020, Hoa and Dat took the goods of CDC Lam Dong to Hoa's house for storage. Around January 2021, they packaged them and sent them by bus to a store in Dak Lak province for Ms. Dinh Le Le Na.

In total, Hoa and Dat twice appropriated 9 types of chemicals and consumables from CDC Lam Dong to sell to Viet A Company with a total invoice amount of more than 50 million VND. This amount was transferred to the parties' accounts to be shared.

In the prosecution of Hoa and Dat for appropriating 288 Covid-19 PCR tests and 500 hand-separating chemical tests worth more than 164 million VND from Lam Dong CDC and then selling them to Viet A Company, the police agency clarified: During the process of using Covid-19 PCR tests and hand-separating chemicals to serve Sar-CoV-2 testing for Lam Dong CDC, Hoa performed pooled testing, resulting in 288 Covid-19 PCR tests and 500 hand-separating chemical tests remaining.

Hoa informed Dat and both agreed to sell 288 Covid-19 PCR tests and 500 hand-separated chemical tests to Viet A Company. Like the previous time, Ms. Dinh Le Le Na continued to be the contact point for the exchange, buying back 3 Covid-19 PCR test boxes and 10 hand-separated chemical boxes from CDC Lam Dong.

This time, Ms. Dinh Le Le Na transferred money to Hoa and Dat into Dat's account with a total amount of more than 163 million VND. After that, Dat transferred nearly 73 million VND to Hoa's account. To legalize this embezzlement, Hoa made a false settlement, leaving out of the tracking books 288 Covid-19 PCR tests and the remaining 500 hand separation chemical tests mentioned above.

In addition, the police agency also clarified that in February 2021, in fact, only 1,055 Covid-19 PCR tests were used, but Hoa settled on using 1,255 Covid-19 PCR tests and 500 hand separation chemical tests.

On June 28, 2022, Hoa and Dat were prosecuted and temporarily detained by the Investigation Police Agency of Lam Dong Provincial Police.

Considering the defendants' actions were serious, causing bad public opinion and causing public outrage at a time when the whole country was struggling to fight the pandemic, the Trial Panel sentenced defendant Pham Thi Hoa to 8 years in prison and defendant Nguyen Xuan Dat to 8 years in prison, both for the crime of "Embezzlement of property".

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