HCMC – Former Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong was yesterday, May 19, sentenced to four years in jail in a fake cancer drug case.
After an eight-day hearing, the Hanoi People’s Count found Cuong guilty of irresponsibility that led to serious consequences as he approved six of seven types of Health 2000 Canada for import to and circulation in Vietnam.
Cuong was detained on December 10 last year after a month of being charged with dereliction of duty in Vietnam Pharma JSC’s (VN Pharma) fake cancer drug import and trade.
The court handed down a two-year jail sentence on Le Dinh Thanh, a former customs officer of HCMC, and a three-year prison sentence on Nguyen Viet Hung, ex-deputy head of the Vietnam Drug Administration at the Health Ministry.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy and Pham Hong Chau, who both used to work for the Vietnam Drug Administration, will be imprisoned for four years for abuse of powers while on duty.
The former chairman of VN Pharma, Nguyen Minh Hung, was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for trading in fake goods which in this case is a counterfeit drug. In an early court hearing, Hung was sentenced to 17 for the same charge, so his combined prison term is 30 years.
Seven other defendants who used to work for VN Pharma got prison terms of two to 30 years for the same charge as Hung.
