On 2/5, Bac Ninh Provincial Police announced that its Economic Police Department had initiated legal proceedings against six defendants for "forgery in public service" and 26 individuals accused of "using forged documents of agencies and organizations".

Some defendants in the case. Photo: Police provided

According to initial investigations, from 2022 to 9/2025, the group of defendants exploited legal provisions that allow convicted individuals to defer prison sentences due to severe or critical illness, thereby helping them evade punishment. Some convicted individuals then used intermediaries, including state officials, to collude with Hoang Van Huan, deputy director of Hanoi Lung Hospital.

The fabrication of medical records for severe, multi-drug resistant lung tuberculosis (grade 4) aimed to legitimize the conditions for deferring prison sentences. For each fraudulent medical record, convicted individuals paid tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dong.

According to the accusations, Mr. Huan instructed La Duc Manh, a nurse in the emergency and intensive care department at Hanoi Lung Hospital, to contact and receive individuals seeking fake medical records. Despite these individuals not being ill or receiving treatment at the hospital, Mr. Huan allegedly directed technicians to falsify test results.

The deputy director also instructed Dang Viet Phong, an emergency department doctor, along with Manh, to create fraudulent medical records and nursing care sheets within the treatment files. Subsequently, Mr. Huan is accused of providing convicted individuals with documents, such as disease conclusion reports or photocopied medical records, for them to process applications for sentence deferral at courts or enforcement agencies.

Police searched the office of Hoang Van Huan. Photo: Police provided

Typically, with these medical records, offenders received sentence deferrals ranging from 6 to 12 months. If, after this period, they still wished to defer their sentences, the suspects continued to forge documents using the same methods.

Police are currently investigating and expanding the case to clarify the roles and responsibilities of all involved individuals and organizations. They are also calling on those connected to the case to come forward voluntarily for leniency.