Colonel Ho Anh Son, deputy director of the academy’s Military Medical Research Institute, is being investigated for “embezzlement” and “abuse of power and official position” in line with the Penal Code while Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Hieu, head of the Equipment and Supplies Department, is under investigation for “violating regulations on bidding, causing serious consequences.”
Son was head of the research project to study and produce Covid-19 test kits in collaboration with Ho Chi Minh City-based medical tech firm Viet A Technology Corporation.
Phan Quoc Viet, general director of Viet A, admitted in January that he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45 percent and sent around VND800 billion ($35.2 million) as “bonuses” to company partners.
Viet said he had bribed certain individuals to earn over VND500 billion.
The police said he had conspired with leaders of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in several localities to win bids for his company’s Covid-19 test kits, and bribed Director of the Hai Duong CDC Pham Duy Tien with VND27 billion.
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Ho Anh Son, Deputy Director of the Military Medical Research Institute at the Military Medical Academy, December 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Chinh |
Colonel Son told VnExpress last December, shortly after Viet was arrested, that Viet A had joined the research team to produce the test kit from the beginning because of the urgent demand for domestic use.
“The test kit produces high accuracy and Viet A’s violations have…
