According to the conclusion of the first trial last month, Nguyen Minh Hung, the former director of HCM City-based VN Pharma JSC, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the firm’s smuggling of 9,300 cancer medicine boxes of H-Capita 500mg and falsification of documents for the trading.
The defendants at the first trial of VN Pharma's scam.
Meanwhile, nine others in the ring were sentenced for between the two years’ probation and 12 years in prison for their violations.
However, according to the HCM City People’s Procuracy, the sentences were too light, inaccurate and not commensurate with the seriousness of the case.
The HCM City People’s Procuracy also said that many problems in the case need to be clarified to ensure all violators to be punished.
The HCM City People’s Procuracy has asked the municipal People’s Court to re-investigate into the main problems related to the announced sentences, the Ministry of Health’s check on 9,300 cancer medicine boxes of H-Capita 500mg imported by VN Pharma as well as the spending of a VND7.5 billion (USD340,900) as commissions for hospitals.
After the trial, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that her relatives and herself were not involved in the case of VN Pharma JSC Company’s case. "No one in my family works for the company at all. This is a small private company so I even did not know about this until the Drug Administration informed the ministry of its doubts about the company’s cancer medicine origins,” she clarified.
However, former chairman and director of VN Pharma JS Company Nguyen Minh Hung who was sentenced 12 years in prison for the scam revealed to a local online newspaper that brother-in-law of Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien was working for the company.
