Hanoi (VNA) – The first-instance trial of 55 defendants in a bribery case involving the Food Safety Authority (VFA) under the Ministry of Health is scheduled to commence on January 5, according to a decision issued by the Hanoi People’s Court on December 22.
The hearing is expected to last 10 days.
Two former directors of the VFA – Nguyen Thanh Phong and Tran Viet Nga, along with two deputy heads – Nguyen Hung Long and Do Huu Tuan, and 30 subordinates, have been prosecuted by the Supreme People’s Procuracy for “receiving bribes” under Article 354 of the Penal Code. Meanwhile, 21 defendants from enterprises and service providers have been charged with “offering bribes” under Article 364.
According to the indictment, the VFA is a specialised agency under the Ministry of Health, responsible for advising and assisting the minister in state management and law enforcement related to food safety. However, between 2018 and 2025, several officials and specialists at this agency allegedly abused legal regulations to solicit and accept bribes in exchange for the appraisal and issuance of various permits. These included product registration certificates, advertising content confirmations, post-production appraisals, and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificates.
To expedite the processing of their dossiers, several service providers and businesses allegedly colluded with VFA specialists to pay “unofficial fees”.
Prosecutors accused that Phong allowed in principle VFA specialists to collect illegal payments of between 5 million and 10 million VND (190–380 USD) per dossier from applicants, in addition to prescribed fees. The illicit proceeds were allegedly shared among Phong and his subordinates.
Nga, who served as deputy director of the agency from 2018 to 2024 and as director from 2024 until her arrest, was assigned the responsibility for approving advertising content certificates. She allegedly required that at least 2 million VND per dossier be paid to agency leaders. After receiving the bribes, specialists reportedly passed between 2 million and 3.5 million VND per dossier to Nga.
From 2020 to 2023, Nguyen Nang Manh, chief executive officer of MediPhar and MediUSA, allegedly paid more than 1 billion VND to agency officials in exchange for preferential treatment, including 330 million VND paid to Phong.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy concluded that Phong, Nga, and 32 subordinates abused their powers to receive more than 107 billion VND in bribes from 21 corporate and individual defendants.
Phong and Nga were identified as the leaders of the bribery operation. Phong allegedly gained 43.9 billion VND for personal benefit, while Nga benefited by 8 billion VND. Long allegedly received 8.6 billion VND, and Tuan 4.3 billion VND.
In addition, prosecutors charged 21 defendants with offering bribes totalling 77.4 billion VND. A further 27.5 billion VND allegedly paid in bribes remains under investigation by the police.
Manh is accused of offering bribes worth 3.4 billion VND but is currently being prosecuted separately by the Ministry of Public Security’s Police Agency for Investigation for producing counterfeit food products and violating accounting regulations with serious consequences. Investigators have therefore separated the bribery-related materials for further investigation to handle all offences in one case./.
Hanoi court cuts sentences in ‘rescue flight’ bribery case
Among those receiving reduced sentences were Tran Tung, former Deputy Director of the Thai Nguyen provincial Department of Foreign Affairs, whose prison term was cut to 10 years from 12, with six years for accepting bribes and four for abusing power while performing official duties.
