Nguyen Minh Hung was ordered into temporary detention by the court this afternoon.
On the afternoon of October 23, before continuing the trial, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City read the arrest warrant for Nguyen Minh Hung (former Chairman of VN Pharma) and Vo Manh Cuong (Director of H&C International Maritime Trading Company).
The two defendants were detained for 90 days to `serve investigation and trial work`.
When hearing the arrest warrant read, Hung collapsed and the crime room was in chaos.
Hung and Cuong were arrested on September 19, 2014.
An ambulance was mobilized to the court.
During this morning’s session, the jury continuously questioned Hung and Vo Manh Cuong about a number of important acts such as: paying commissions to doctors, inflating drug prices, designing drug samples, and authorization letters for Helix Canada Company.
Previously, the Procuracy requested the jury to cancel the entire first instance verdict and reinvestigate because many details at the first instance level as well as at the appeal hearing could not be clarified.
All attention focused on the tightly closed criminal room – where the court read the arrest warrant for the two defendants.
The first instance judgment alleges that when Hung ordered the drug H-Capita 500mg (cancer treatment), Cuong ordered the drug from Raymundo (a businessman in the Philippines, representative of the Canadian Helix Company).
The investigation agency determined that this is a `ghost` company, the character Raymundo has no clear background.
Because the partner did not provide enough documents, Hung directed his subordinates to hire someone to write technical drug documents, falsify contracts and payment documents to apply for a license from the Drug Administration of Vietnam – Ministry of Health to import a shipment of nearly 9,300 shipments.
The Drug Administration later discovered that the batch of medicine was of poor quality, concluding that the medicine contained 97% of the active ingredient capecitabine – unknown origin, poor quality, `not used as medicine for humans`.
Defendant Cuong.
In August, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Hung and Cuong to 12 years in prison for smuggling;
The court recommends that the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Security Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security clarify the responsibilities of 3 officers of the Ministry of Health’s Pharmaceutical Management Department, doctors receiving commissions… if there are signs of violation, it will be handled as a case.
Defendant Hung and a number of his accomplices applied for a reduced sentence.
Hai Duyen