HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – Vietnam’s health minister and the mayor of the capital Hanoi have been arrested as part of an expanded investigation into massive price gouging of COVID-19 tests, state media reported.
The Tuoi Tre online news outlet reported on June 7 that Nguyen Thanh Long was sacked and Chu Ngoc Anh, who previously served as science minister, was sacked as mayor of Hanoi. According to the ministry, they are being investigated for abuse of power by the Minister of Public Security and have been expelled from the party.
An earlier investigation concluded that mismanagement of science and the Ministry of Health had led Vietnamese tech companies to inflate the prices of test kits supplied to Vietnamese hospitals and health centers.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, nearly 60 ministries, public health leaders and military generals, among others, suspected of price gouging have been detained or under investigation.
The irregularities by the two officials damaged Vietnam’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and caused huge losses to the state budget, the report said.
Deputy Science Minister Fan Congda was also arrested and charged with violating regulations governing state-owned assets.
Viet A received $172 million to provide test kits in 62 territories. Its general manager, arrested in December, allegedly admitted that his company in Ho Chi Minh City had inflated the selling price of the test kits to about $20, or 45 percent over the original price, to earn a $21.5 million difference.
Phan Quoc Viet allegedly admitted to investigators that he paid illegal kickbacks worth $34 million to a state-owned partner who bought his test kits at high prices.
