Viet A scandal: Why is high probability of death penalty?

During the pandemic, Vietnam had more than 40,000 deaths from various reasons, but most of the victims died unjustly, due to unscientific anti-epidemic decisions of medical authorities.

The fact that the Ministry of Health made a wrong policy – “isolated in concentred facilities” – caused the Covid-19 virus to spread quickly, while health officials did not have a general treatment regimen to combat the epidemic. That’s why the medical workers in Saigon at that time admitted that they could only gather patients… to wait for death.

According to experts, it is necessary to prosecute the “Viet A group” for murder and complicity in mass murder, not just for the crimes of “fake test kits” or “give and receive bribes.” It must be traced, who came up with the wrong anti-epidemic policy – “zero covid” and “wide-scale testing at lightning speed” – because this is an organized murder, the source of the disaster during the pandemic.

The aforementioned policy occurred at a time when the Central Commission for Propaganda and Education simultaneously praised the achievements of the Military Medical Academy in conjunction with Phan Quoc Viet’s Viet A Company in research, manufacturing, and production of test kit products, with a budget of nearly VND19 billion. This product became Vietnam’s first test kit product, temporarily licensed by the Ministry of Health of Vietnam.

A remarkable detail, the Director of Viet A Company brought a number of test kits purchased from “foreign countries” labeled with Viet A, for the Military Medical Academy to introduce and offer for sale. So, the test kit that was put into widespread use, is a product researched by the Military Medical Academy, or imported by Viet A from China, this is still a question mark.

With a factory of several tens of square meters, and without production equipment, as stated by the press, it is highly likely that Viet A has smuggled kits from China with pre-printed labels on orders. This is also a question that has not been clarified by the Ministry of Public Security.

Thanks to selling Covid-19 test kits at “very high prices,” Viet A Company earned a profit of more than VND1.23 trillion. According to the investigation conclusion, the Investigation Agency determined, the production price of a test is VND143,461 (including all costs and 5% profit). However, the Ministry of Health determined to sell at VND470,000/test, three times higher. From this profit, Viet A Company bribed officials with VND106 billion to circulate and inflate the price of the COVID-19 test kit, causing state budget loss of VND432 billion.

Regarding the unjust death of more than 40,000 victims, public opinion confirmed that this was a mass murder. The highest prosecution charge must be a charge of mass murder, even genocide.

That is, the Viet A big case is essentially an organized mass murder case, involving dozens of high-ranking officials, in ministries, branches, provinces, cities, and throughout the country.

The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as “one of five acts with the aim of destroying part of a community or a country.”

 

Phan Quoc Viet and the Military Medical Academy

 

That has shown the seriousness of the Viet A case, which in the investigation conclusion of the Ministry of Public Security has not been mentioned at all, and even, there are many expressions of wanting to reduce the crime for corrupt officials. Specifically:

Among the officials who received the “gift” money from Viet A was Chu Ngoc Anh, former Minister of Science and Technology and former Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee.

State media reported on August 18, that two years ago, Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh, then Minister of Science and Technology, directly received a bag of “gifts” from Mr. Phan Quoc Viet. Inside is $200,000. But according to the testimony, it was not until he took office as the chairman of Hanoi, on the day of the transfer, that Chu Ngoc Anh opened the bag, and then “knew” that there was USDs in his working office. The same thing happened to former Deputy Minister Pham Cong Tac. When he received $50,000, Mr. Tac accepted it because he thought it was a gift.

Public opinion said that this must have been a bribe from the investigative agency, which is receiving gifts, not accepting bribes. So, if you take property and money from the state, give it to a private person, and get “kickback” of billions, is it not a crime to accept bribes?

While everyone knows that, with the help of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, the Viet A Company can be raging, powerful, and evil. This is the source of the mass death toll of more than 40,000 people. At the same time, this is one of the factors that caused the serious failure of Vietnam’s anti-epidemic work.

That’s why public opinion believes that the courts need to prosecute these people for murder, not just corruption or bribery. And many of them must be with capital punishment.

Compared with the “rescue flight,” the “Viet A” case has a more methodical and elaborate arrangement. Because, for millions of people to be tested, the disease spread quickly, causing more than 43 thousand deaths while trillions of dong of people and businesses were destroyed.

Therefore, if the Communist Party of Vietnam wants to regain the people’s hearts, it needs to directly judge and give the death penalty for a few stalwart comrades, then the people will agree and support.

The General Secretary has considered anti-corruption as “we punish our officials” so it can be expected that the sentence for former Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, guilty of accepting bribes of $2.5 million, if he retuns the money, he would be sentenced to a life sentence. Chu Ngoc Anh was accused of causing a loss of state assets of VND18.9 billion. However, these two sentences still do not make the people satisfied.

 

Therefore, it is highly likely that Viet A General Director Phan Quoc Viet, who is not a party member, will be a scapegoat and will most likely receive the death penalty. However, it is unfair if the officials who participated organizing the scandal will not be sentenced to death.

 

Vu Anh – Thoibao.de

 

Kasse animation 7.8.2023