On 16/8/2025, Can Tho City Police discontinued the investigation into the criminal case "Violation of bidding regulations causing serious consequences," which occurred in 2020-2021, at the City General Hospital and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of Can Tho. This decision was based on point a, clause 1, Article 230 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code, which stipulates the discontinuation of investigations, and point a, clause 2, Article 29 of the Criminal Code, which outlines grounds for exemption from criminal responsibility.

Authorities stated that at Can Tho City General Hospital, the actions of Director Tran Quoc Luan and Huynh Quoc Hung (a member of the hospital's bidding selection team) took place while Can Tho and the entire country were implementing Directives 15 and 16 on Covid-19 prevention. The hospital borrowed Covid-19 PCR tests from Viet A Company for testing officials serving the 2021-2026 National Assembly and People's Council elections and for urgent pandemic response. They later legitimized the procurement records for subsequent payment. The investigation concluded that Tran Quoc Luan and Huynh Quoc Hung did not personally profit from this.

At Can Tho CDC, Nguyen Quang Thong, former director, and Huynh Minh Truc, director, directly signed the contracts. Tran Phuong Ha and Huynh Van Ut Cung, head and deputy head of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medical Supplies, respectively, were directly responsible for preparing the bidding documents. These individuals acted under the circumstances where Can Tho CDC was tasked by city leaders with conducting community testing to quickly isolate Covid-19 infected individuals to curb the spread of the disease.

They had to act urgently to meet the demands, but Can Tho CDC either lacked testing kits or had an insufficient supply. Funding was either not provided or was insufficient. Accessing supplies was difficult, the supply capacity of many companies was limited, and every locality needed large quantities.

Higher-level leadership directed them to fully prepare reagents and supplies for timely disease prevention, necessitating borrowing supplies for immediate use. Can Tho CDC borrowed Viet A Company's products from Hop Nhat Company for initial use and later completed bidding documents for reimbursement.

The investigation determined that Nguyen Quang Thong, Huynh Minh Truc, Tran Phuong Ha, and Huynh Van Ut Cung did not personally profit.

The Can Tho City Police Investigation Agency recommended that Can Tho General Hospital and Can Tho CDC address the responsibilities of those involved.

According to the investigation, in 2020-2021, Can Tho General Hospital borrowed and purchased a total of 19,914 Covid-19 PCR tests produced by Viet A Company. The hospital paid for 3,414 tests and reagents worth over 2.4 billion VND (unit price 470,000-509,250 VND per test), with the remaining 16,500 tests unpaid.

This included three regular procurement contracts with small values (under 100 million VND) carried out through an abbreviated bidding process, totaling 346 tests and reagents worth over 230 million VND, of which over 155 million VND has been paid.

Inspection of the records revealed that these bidding packages did not follow proper procedures. There were no approved plans for selecting contractors through an abbreviated bidding process, and the information was not posted on the bidding portal as required. Can Tho General Hospital only collected a price quotation from Viet A Company and proposed the purchase for these three bidding packages.

Having agreed to borrow the goods beforehand and committed to paying Viet A, the hospital did not research or compare other reagents. During the abbreviated bidding process, the hospital solely selected Viet A Company's products without evaluating, analyzing, or comparing other products, resulting in a loss of over 1.1 billion VND.

Meanwhile, in 2020-2021, Can Tho CDC purchased a total of 50,352 Covid-19 test kits produced by Viet A Company from Hop Nhat Company, priced at 367,000-520,000 VND per test, and paid over 20.3 billion VND. Additionally, the unit borrowed over 193,700 tests that have not been returned or paid for to Hop Nhat Company.

The investigating agency determined that this showed signs of the crime "Violation of bidding regulations causing serious consequences...".

Hung Loi