Prosecution of female director of production and trade of fake functional foods
Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have just prosecuted Hoang Thi Ngoc, Director of Nam Hoa Herbal Medicine Production Company Limited, for the crime of "Producing and trading in counterfeit food products".
On June 5, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police announced that the Provincial Police Investigation Agency had initiated a case, prosecuted the accused and issued a house arrest order against Hoang Thi Ngoc (born in 1988, residing in Bo De ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi), Director of Nam Hoa Herbal Medicine Production Company Limited, for the crime of "Producing and trading in counterfeit food products".
According to the initial investigation results, around 2020, Ngoc posted for sale Dao ethnic traditional medicine of Ms. Trieu Thi Hoa (residing in Yen Son commune, Ba Vi district, Hanoi) on the Facebook account "Trieu Thi Hoa".
From there, Nguyen Thi Hoi (born in 1983, residing in Ea Bhok commune, Cu Kuin district, Dak Lak province), Director of Tran Kim Huyen Company Limited, read the information and contacted to buy with the purpose of reselling for profit.
After purchasing Ngoc's product, Hoi found that the packaging design was not beautiful, so he discussed with Ngoc to redesign the packaging design, tested the product, announced it, and asked Hoi to have exclusive distribution rights.
Ngoc agreed with Hoi to design the packaging and name the product according to Hoi's idea.
Both sides agreed that Hoi would be responsible for printing packaging and labels and then sending them to Ngoc for finishing. Ngoc would then transfer the products to Hoi so that Hoi could exclusively sell these products on the market.
To have raw materials to produce medicines according to Hoi's request, Ngoc discussed and got Ms. Trieu Thi Hoa's consent to give Ngoc exclusive rights to distribute traditional medicine products.
However, because the traditional medicine of the Dao ethnic group is not included in the list of traditional medicine, it cannot be tested and announced. Ngoc has created the formula herself (because Ngoc has studied traditional medicine) from traditional medicine plants that have the same healing and health-enhancing effects as the traditional medicine of the Dao ethnic group to write the names of these plants on the packaging.
Ngoc then purchased the necessary documents, self-declared the products and submitted the application to the Bac Ninh Food Safety Board to bring 12 products to the market. These products were resold to many customers, including Pham Thi Toan (residing in Bai Tranh commune, Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province).
The case is currently under further investigation by the police.