Hanoi (VNA) - The Hanoi People’s Court is set to open a first-instance trial of 55 defendants, of whom 34 are currently in custody, in a bribery case involving the Food Safety Authority (VFA) under the Ministry of Health on January 5 morning.
More than 80 lawyers from over 60 law firms have registered to defend the lawful rights and interests of the defendants. In addition, to prepare for the trial, nearly 60 individuals with related rights and obligations have been summoned to attend the hearing.
In this case, two former directors of the VFA – Nguyen Thanh Phong and Tran Viet Nga, along with two former deputy directors – 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. Phong is accused of receiving between 2.5 million and 3 million VND for each dossier.
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.
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./.
Fifty-five to stand trial in health ministry bribery case
Between 2018 and 2025, several officials and specialists at the Food Safety Authority allegedly abused legal regulations to solicit and accept bribes in exchange for the appraisal and issuance of various permits.
