Former health minister sentenced to 18 years in jail

HCMC – Nguyen Thanh Long, former Minister of Health, has received a jail sentence of 18 years for accepting bribes worth VND51 billion in the Viet A test kit price gouging case. Nguyen Huynh, former secretary of former Health Minister Long, and Nguyen Nam Lien, former head of the ministry’s Financial Planning Department, were sentenced to nine and seven years in jail, respectively. His two subordinates, Phan Ton Noel Thao and Ho Thi Thanh Thao, got four years in jail for having given bribes. Regarding charges of violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, Chu Ngoc Anh, former Minister of Science and Technology, was handed down a sentence of three years in jail. Pham Cong Tac, former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, also got the similar sentence.