Proposal to change the charges against the former Secretary of the Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee.

On September 17, 2022, the Investigation Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute Mr. Pham Xuan Thang (former Secretary of the Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee) for the crime of "Abusing his position and power while performing official duties".

On April 7, 2023, the investigating agency issued a decision to change the indictment against Mr. Pham Xuan Thang from the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" to the crime of "Violating regulations on bidding causing serious consequences".

On July 11, 2023, the Investigation Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to change the indictment decision No. 11/QD-CSKT-P9 against Mr. Pham Xuan Thang from the crime of "Violating regulations on bidding causing serious consequences" to the crime of "Receiving bribes" and sent a letter requesting the Supreme People's Procuracy to approve it.

According to the investigating agency, they have not yet received the approval or disapproval decision from the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Regarding the defendant Pham Xuan Thang, the Investigation Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security requests the Supreme People's Procuracy to consider approving the Decision to amend the Indictment Decision No. 11/QD-CSKT-P9 dated July 11, 2023, and to prosecute defendant Pham Xuan Thang in accordance with the law.

The investigation determined that Mr. Pham Xuan Thang, taking advantage of his position and authority as Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and head of the Party Committee of Hai Duong province, and exploiting the task of epidemic prevention and control, with personal motives, concluded and directed the approval for Viet A Company to enter Hai Duong province to conduct Covid-19 testing at the request of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long (former Minister of Health).

The former Secretary of the Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee also did not direct the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments to survey and select suppliers with sufficient capacity and experience at low cost, saving money for the budget, businesses and people. Instead, he directed the Provincial People's Committee and relevant functional agencies to sign contracts and use testing kits and other medical equipment, supplies, and biological products from Viet A Company.

Mr. Pham Xuan Thang also directed the Hai Duong Provincial Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control to instruct the Hai Duong CDC to coordinate with Viet A Company to conduct large-scale screening tests, increase testing capacity, and create illegal revenue streams for Viet A Company…

The investigation concluded that, due to Mr. Thang's direction, the Hai Duong CDC illegally legalized the bidding procedures, signed contracts, and paid over 147 billion VND to Viet A Company from the state budget, causing losses of over 73 billion VND.

According to the investigation's conclusions, the former Secretary of the Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee received $100,000 (equivalent to over 2.3 billion VND) from Mr. Phan Quoc Viet.

During the process of the Hai Duong CDC formalizing the bidding documents, signing contracts, and making payments to Viet A Company, after agreeing to and receiving 27 billion VND in commission outside the contract from Viet A Company, Mr. Pham Duy Tuyen (former Director of the Hai Duong CDC) gave Mr. Pham Xuan Thang 600 million VND and 50,000 USD (equivalent to over 1.1 billion VND).

The investigating agency assessed that Mr. Pham Xuan Thang made a sincere confession, showed remorse, actively cooperated to clarify the nature of the case, had outstanding achievements in his work, and had fully repaid the money he received from defendant Phan Quoc Viet and former Director of the Hai Duong Provincial Center for Disease Control Pham Duy Tuyen.