Former Deputy General Director of VN Pharma was arrested

The Ministry of Public Security has just temporarily detained Phan Xuan Thien (former Deputy General Director of VN Pharma Joint Stock Company) and Hoang Truc Vy (employee of VN Pharma's research and development department) for their behavior.Production and trade of counterfeit medicines,TTXreported on January 16.

This move was made by the authorities in the process of reinvestigating the case at the request of the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City when it overturned the first instance verdict at the end of 2017. In which, Thien and Vy were said to have signs of being accomplices of Nguyen Minh Hung (former Chairman of VN Pharma) in the case of counterfeit medicine trafficking at VN Pharma.

Thien was the one who introduced Truc Vy to hire pharmacist Pham Van Thong to write the drug technical file under Hung's direction for 2,000 USD. Thien knew clearly that the origin of the drug batch and the seal bearing the name of Helix Canada Company were fake, already existing at VNPharma Company, but still let Hung and his subordinates use it to legalize the import of the H-Capita 500mg drug batch to Vietnam. Vy also hired pharmacists to edit many other drug files.

According to the case, Nguyen Manh Hung ordered H-Capita 500mg from Vo Manh Cuong (Director of H&C International Maritime Trading Company). This person was then authorized by Raymundo (a businessman in the Philippines, unknown background, claiming to be a representative of Helix Canada Company) to supply the drug to VN Pharma.

Because the partner did not provide sufficient documents, Hung directed his subordinates to hire someone to write a technical document for the drug, using a fake seal of Helix Canada Company, fake signatures of the company's director and employees to make contracts and payment documents to request the Drug Administration to grant permission to import the shipment.

In December 2013, the Drug Administration allowed VN Pharma to import nearly 9,300 boxes of H-Capita. Several months later, due to many suspicions, the Drug Administration inspected and discovered that the batch of drugs did not meet quality standards, so it temporarily suspended and sealed the entire batch. The Ministry of Health concluded that the drug contained 97% of the active ingredient capecitabine - of unknown origin, poor quality, "not to be used as a medicine for humans".

After returning the case file many times, in August 2017, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Hung and Cuong to 12 years in prison for the crime ofSmuggle; 7 other defendants received from 2 years (suspended sentence) to 5 years in prison for the crimeSmuggleorForging seals of documents of organizations and agenciesThe Court also requested the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Ministry of Public Security to continue investigating and clarifying many related issues.

Defendant Hung and several accomplices filed a petition for a reduced sentence. Cuong and two other defendants pleaded innocent, claiming they did not know the documents were forged and were only following instructions from their superiors.

In response to many opinions that the charges and sentences imposed by the first instance court on the defendants were incorrect and too light, the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City appealed to cancel the entire investigation verdict for retrial because there were signs of "missing people and missing crimes".

In October 2017, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City held an appeal and annulled the entire first instance verdict and ordered a retrial. According to the court, Hung's actions showed signs of crime.Production and trade of counterfeit medicines.

The panel of judges also recommended that the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency investigate a series of related people.