VN Pharma General Director fainted when hearing the arrest warrant in court

Early in the afternoon of October 23, the police read out the emergency arrest warrant for Nguyen Minh Hung and Vo Manh Cuong in court. Defendant Hung fainted immediately afterward.

According to the developments at the trial on the afternoon of October 23, before the trial began, the police carried out an emergency arrest warrant for the two defendants above.

At 3:00 p.m. on October 23, the presiding judge announced that the police had issued an order to temporarily detain defendant Nguyen Minh Hung to assist in the investigation and trial. After this announcement, the panel of judges continued to pause for deliberation.

“Meanwhile, at nearly 3:15 p.m. on October 23, the two defendants Nguyen Minh Hung and Vo Manh Cuong had not yet returned to court.”

Medical staff were rushed to the court to provide first aid to the defendant Hung who had fainted.

Earlier, the same morning, the Court questioned the mastermind of the case, Nguyen Minh Hung (Chairman and General Director of VN Pharma Company) about the 'customer care' money.

Responding to the panel of judges about the defendant's previous statement that he used 7.5 billion VND to pay for doctors, and whether he would confirm it at this trial, defendant Hung suddenly said, "Your Honor, I have never stated that I used this money to pay for doctors."

At nearly 3:15 p.m. on October 23, the two defendants Nguyen Minh Hung and Vo Manh Cuong had not yet returned to court.

The presiding judge immediately called defendant Ngo Anh Quoc (deputy general manager of VN Pharma) to confront him. Responding to the panel of judges (standing next to Quoc in the dock was defendant Hung), defendant Quoc confirmed that the amount of 7.5 billion VND that he claimed was real and was used for "customer care".

Hearing this, the panel of judges asked defendant Hung, "Spending on customer care specifically for whom and how specifically?" Defendant Hung replied that it was spending on meals, entertaining guests, marketing...

Hearing defendant Hung say this, the presiding judge 'reminded' defendant Hung: The amount of money does not stop at 7.5 billion, according to the data, this 'customer care' amount is up to nearly 170 billion VND, so where did this amount of money come from? Responding to the panel of judges, Hung said that it was all due to the increase in drug prices.

The police led the two defendants Hung and Cuong out to read the arrest warrant.

Regarding the amount of money that the judge just mentioned in court this morning, according to Tien Phong's data, this amount represents:

At the first instance trial, presenting to the panel of judges, defendant Le Thi Vu Phuong (chief accountant of VN Pharma) said, “To sell drugs at hospitals, we have to pay commissions to doctors. Apart from the H-Capita 500mg batch, we have to pay commissions for all other drugs.”

The investigation agency's records show that Ngo Anh Quoc submitted to the investigation agency a number of receipts for payments to sales department staff to cover expenses for doctors at hospitals where VN Pharma Company had drug supply relationships. Totaling nearly 7.5 billion VND.

At the investigation agency, Ngo Anh Quoc, Nguyen Tri Nhat, and Le Thi Vu Phuong all confessed that the purpose of inflating the drug prices on the contracts to purchase H-CAPITA 500mg Caplet was to get money to cover the cost of selling the drug to hospitals.

The two defendants Cuong and Hung. Photo: Van Minh.

It is noteworthy that in the process of 'investigating' VN Pharma, the investigation agency discovered that not only was there "greasing" in this case for hospitals to sell drugs, but VN Pharma also used hundreds of billions of dong for bribery.

Specifically: Because these "grease" payments had no invoices or documents, VN Pharam used the "trick" of inflating drug prices in drug and drug ingredient import contracts, then transferring money abroad, then taking it back for "grease".

Through the account of Sa Chempha Company in Cambodia established by Ngo Anh Quoc and Nguyen Tri Nhat and the account of Sigma Holding Company, Auspicious Company (Hong Kong), to pay commissions and open savings books at several banks in the name of VN Pharma Company. In which Ngo Anh Quoc is the owner, the amount is over 70 billion VND; Nguyen Tri Nhat has 16 books, 59 billion VND; Le Thi Vu Phuong 27.5 billion VND; Nguyen Van Vang (VN Pharma sales team leader) 5 billion VND...

According to the investigation agency, “In fact, this money is VN Pharma’s money, used to pay commissions to hospitals.” The investigation agency determined that the above behavior has signs of tax evasion.

Returning to the developments of the appeal trial, regarding this amount of nearly 170 billion VND, defendant Hung confessed that since he was detained, the amount (deposited in the bank) had been completely paid off.

The judge asked Hung, if the payment is complete, the bank will collect the debt, right? Hung answered correctly.

Hung explained that after raising the price of the medicine, he deposited the money in banks, then borrowed from these savings books. When the case was exposed, the banks settled the debt.

According to TPO