The Ministry of Public Security has prosecuted four individuals involved in the production of counterfeit dietary supplements for children and the use of falsified testing certificates to distribute the products to the market.
The decision to prosecute and temporarily detain the suspects was issued on April 28. All four are charged with "Violations of Accounting Regulations Causing Serious Consequences."
The defendants include Pham Vu Khiem (Director of Herbitech Technology Co., Ltd.), Vuong Thi Hoa (former chief accountant), Le Thi Hong Van (former chief accountant), and Bui Thi Thu Ha (accounting department head).
Phan Vu Khiem
According to authorities, during the production of healthcare supplements, Herbitech used fake test result certificates under the name of TSL Company to manufacture, outsource, and release products into the market.
On April 7 and April 18, investigators searched the premises of Herbitech’s factory, seizing documents, records, and product samples for inspection and investigation.
Initial forensic examinations by the Criminal Science Institute of the Ministry of Public Security confirmed that two health supplement products, MEDI KID CALCIUM K2 and Baby Shark Appetite Booster, were counterfeit.
Baby Shark was advertised by Herbitech as a nutritional supplement to support underweight, weak, and picky-eating infants.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Public Security has seized an additional 115 health supplement samples produced by Herbitech that show signs of being counterfeit; these are pending forensic results.
During the company's operations, Pham Vu Khiem and the other three defendants allegedly maintained two sets of accounting records. One set was used for tax declarations and significantly understated the actual volume of goods produced and sold. Authorities determined that more than VND121 billion (approximately USD4.8 million) in revenue was omitted from the books, causing tax losses to the state budget exceeding VND10 billion (around USD400,000).
