Vietnam Health Chief, Hanoi Mayor Arrested For COVID Test Scam

According to official media, Vietnam's health minister and the mayor of Hanoi have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into significant price gouging of COVID-19 testing kits, the Associated Press (AP) said.

Photo Insert: Nguyen Thanh Long was sacked from his ministry role.

According to the Tuoi Tre online news outlet, Nguyen Thanh Long was sacked from his ministry role, and Chu Ngoc Anh, who was previously the science minister, was fired as Hanoi mayor. According to the Ministry of Public Security, they are being probed for abuse of power and have been removed from the ruling Communist Party.

An earlier inquiry found that Viet A Technology Corporation inflated rates for test kits provided to hospitals and health centers in Vietnam due to collusion by these officials in both the science and health ministries.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, around 60 suspects, including ministry officials, public health leaders, and military generals, have been imprisoned or are under investigation for price gouging.

According to the report, the two officials' actions hindered Vietnam's response to the COVID-19 outbreak and lost the state money. Pham Cong Tac, the deputy science minister, was also arrested on Tuesday and charged with breaking state asset management norms.

For distributing its test kits in 62 locations, Viet A received $172 million. Its general director was detained in December and allegedly admitted that his company in Ho Chi Minh City had inflated the selling price of a test kit to roughly $20, or 45 percent more than the original, in order to profit $21.5 million.

Phan Quoc Viet is accused of confessing to authorities that he paid $34 million in illicit payments to his state-owned partners who purchased his test kits at inflated costs.

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