HCMC – The Ministry of Public Security has arrested and prosecuted two executives of the BMS Medical Company for the alleged price gouging of medical equipment at the Bach Mai Hospital to misappropriate assets from patients.
Pham Duc Tuan, chairman and director of BMS, and Ngo Thi Thu Huyen, BMS deputy director, were found to have highly inflated the prices of medical supplies.
Ministry of Public Security investigators on September 1 said they had initiated criminal proceedings against those involved in the asset misappropriation case at Bach Mai Hospital, BMS Company and some other relevant units.
The arrest came after the case was investigated following violations of price hikes of medical machines and equipment installed at the hospital.
Apart from that, Tran Le Hoang, an appraiser of VFS JSC in Hanoi City, has also been prosecuted as he was found colluding with the two to gouge prices and cheat patients. He is now under home arrest.
These defendants are facing the asset misappropriation charge in line with Article 174 of the 2017 Penal Code, the local media reported.
The investigators are further probing the violations committed by these defendants at the hospital to impose strict sanctions on the violators and recall the assets.
In another development, the ministry’s investigators have filed criminal proceedings against Hoang Kim Thu, former chief accountant at the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC), for her involvement in the price gouging of real-time PCR detection systems used for Covid-19 testing.
Thu was found to have violated bidding regulations, leading to serious consequences, in line with Article 222 of the 2015 Penal Code, Major General To An Xo said, adding that she was banned from leaving her place of residence.
Earlier in April, Ministry of Public Security investigators had arrested Nguyen Nhat Cam, director of Hanoi CDC, and six others for the alleged price gouging of real-time PCR detection systems used for Covid-19 testing.
In July, the investigators prosecuted two more Hanoi CDC officials who committed the same violations as Cam—Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of Hanoi CDC’s Planning and Professional Department, and Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, head of Hanoi CDC’s Administrative Office.
Until now, the investigators have begun legal proceedings against 10 defendants involved in the price inflation case.
