The Investigation Police Agency Office of the Ministry of Public Security (C01) recently concluded its investigation into a case at the Ministry of Health's Food Safety Department. The agency proposed prosecuting two former department directors, Tran Viet Nga and Nguyen Thanh Phong, along with 32 other individuals, for receiving bribes. Additionally, 21 people are accused of giving bribes.

Nguyen Nang Manh, Chairman of the Board of MediaUSA Joint Stock Company, also owns the MediPhar and MediaUSA pharmaceutical plants. Starting in 2016, Manh established and operated numerous companies to legitimize the production and sale of counterfeit functional foods. According to the investigation's findings, Manh used the tactic of printing packaging and labels that indicated products were imported from the United States and Europe. In reality, these products were primarily sourced from China and bought illicitly on the market. Regarding quality standards, many components achieved less than 30% of their stated quality. The group primarily targeted the elderly and children for product sales.

In 2020, Manh's company applied for a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certificate, a document confirming product quality and safety, to begin production. To expedite the assessment and certification process, Manh colluded with the head of the assessment team, Cao Van Trung, Deputy Head of the Food Poisoning Surveillance Department of the Food Safety Department.

The two agreed that Manh would pay 30 million VND, which Trung would then distribute: 10 million VND to Deputy Department Director Nguyen Hung Long and 20 million VND to Department Director Nguyen Thanh Phong. This payment was intended to have the two department leaders facilitate and schedule the assessment of the MediaUSA and MediPhar plants as soon as possible.

Nguyen Nang Manh at the investigative agency. Photo: VTV

Following this plan, after the Food Safety Department issued a decision to establish an inspection team to assess the plants, Manh paid Trung a total of 120 million VND over four instances, spanning from june 2020 to november 2024. Upon receiving the money, Trung also distributed it in four installments, giving Long a total of 40 million VND and Phong 80 million VND.

Beyond payments for scheduling assessments, Manh also made multiple payments to inspection teams during both initial and re-assessments of the plants. In june and october 2020, inspection teams conducted assessments at the MediaUSA and MediPhar plants, concluding that "some deficiencies remained." The teams requested the company to rectify these issues and submit a written report to the Food Safety Department within 90 days.

At the MediaUSA plant, Manh provided the team with 165 million VND, enclosed in MediaUSA Company envelopes. This included 50 million VND for Phong, 30 million VND for Trung, 30 million VND for Long, 10 million VND for Pham Van Hinh, Head of the Food Poisoning Surveillance Department, 15 million VND for the team secretary, and 30 million VND for the remaining members. Similarly, at the MediPhar plant, Manh prepared 180 million VND in envelopes for the same individuals.

The money was distributed according to rank in each envelope.

In november 2023 and january 2024, during re-assessments of the MediaUSA and MediPhar plants, the inspection teams again concluded that the company still had some deficiencies, requiring rectification and a report within three months.

Just like the previous assessment, Manh prepared envelopes at both plants, distributing money from the highest-ranking department official down to the inspection team members. The money was divided into portions, with the envelopes for each plant bearing that plant's name. At the MediPhar plant, Manh spent a total of 210 million VND, while at MediaUSA, he spent 190 million VND.

After the inspection findings, Manh's two companies only implemented perfunctory and superficial rectifications, merely as a formality. However, because the entire team had received money, the inspection team "assessed based on documentation, overlooking actual conditions" and recommended that the department leadership issue four GMP certificates to the enterprise.

Department Director Nguyen Thanh Phong at the time of his arrest. Photo: Ministry of Public Security

Additionally, during post-inspections of the MediPhar plant and its products, Manh also paid money to ensure everything would go smoothly. On 9/11/2022, a post-inspection team at the MediPhar plant recorded a violation. Manh then proposed paying 200 million VND for the violation to be overlooked.

In pre-prepared envelopes, Manh sent 50 million VND to Phong, 30 million VND to Trung, 30 million VND to Long, 10 million VND to Hinh, and 80 million VND to the remaining members. Having received the envelopes, the inspection team drafted a report stating they had inspected the health supplement production and business facility. The team did not take samples due to a lack of products in stock and made no recommendations.

C01 concluded that Manh had paid a total of over one billion VND to the Food Safety Department team. Of this, Trung received a total of 150 million VND, Phong 330 million VND, Long 190 million VND, 17 team members shared 345 million VND, and the remainder went to several other individuals.

Furthermore, Manh is also accused of having given bribes totaling 2.3 billion VND to numerous department officials when submitting applications for product declaration registration certificates. Thus, Manh gave a total of over 3.4 billion VND in bribes. However, as he has already been prosecuted in a case involving the production of counterfeit food products related to MediaUSA and MediPhar, which C03 of the Ministry of Public Security is currently handling, his bribery acts will be addressed within that case.

In this case, Manh and 21 other defendants are identified as having agreed to give bribes totaling nearly 80 billion VND to specialists and leaders of the Food Safety Department. The purpose was to secure favorable conditions, guidance, and completion of application dossiers for certification and advertising content approval.

All individuals and businesses who paid money to Food Safety Department specialists and leaders did so to facilitate the production and advertising of health supplement products. According to Decree 15/2018, which details some articles of the Food Safety Law, individuals producing and trading health supplements must register product declarations.

C01 is currently investigating over 150 other individuals who allegedly gave 24.5 billion VND in bribes to Food Safety Department specialists. The investigative agency stated that the large number of individuals giving bribes, mostly ranging from 2 million to under 100 million VND, and residing in various localities, requires time for verification and proper assessment of the nature and extent of their actions for appropriate handling.

Among those accused of receiving bribes, C01 considers the two former Food Safety Department Directors, Nguyen Thanh Phong and Tran Viet Nga, as the masterminds. They are held responsible for the total amount received, which exceeds 107 billion VND. Of this, Phong must return 43.5 billion VND, and Nga 8 billion VND.

During the investigation, the defendants have paid nearly 28 billion VND to mitigate the consequences of the case. C01 also seized six plots of land and townhouses belonging to Phong in Hanoi and Vinh Phuc, a luxury apartment owned by Nga, an apartment owned by Deputy Director Long, and froze transactions involving the assets of 21 other defendants in the case.

>> Detailed list of 55 individuals proposed for prosecution

Pham Du