Former HCMC hospital director to stand trial for $4.2M embezzlement

Quan was arrested last November pending investigations for certain bidding violations that happened at the hospital.

His accomplices, including his wife Nguyen Tran Ngoc Diem, Nguyen Van Loi, and other former officials of Thu Duc Hospital, are also set to stand the trial, which is expected to be heard by the HCMC People’s Court from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

Nguyen Minh Quan (L), former director of HCMC's Thu Duc Hospital, and Nguyen Van Loi, his accomplice in bidding violations at the hospital. Photo courtesy of HCMC police

Quan and his accomplices have been accused of committing acts violating the Bidding Laws in the procurement of medical supplies and equipment at Thu Duc Hospital between 2016 and 2020, causing serious losses to the state budget, investigation found.

Over a period of four years, Quan appointed Loi’s companies, established based on Quan’s orders, to win 27 bids of such and paid a total of VND345 billion ($14.2 million) to Loi’s businesses. This figure was between 30-50% higher than the actual accumulative price of the medical supplies and equipment Loi’s companies sold to Thu Duc Hospital.

Quan’s accomplices have been accused of being aware of his violations yet did not expose them.

Loi then transferred VND103 billion, the difference between the actual accumulative price and the amount Thu Duc Hospital paid him, to Quan and his wife. This money was then spent on Quan and his wife’s personal purposes, including purchasing recreational real estate properties in the coastal Nha Trang City, real estate properties in HCMC, and automobiles.

Some among these assets were then sold for money to bribe police officers investigating bidding violations at the hospital, Quan said.

Quan had escaped bribery charges despite having paid two anti-corruption officials US$3.7 million to escape bidding violation accusations, because he had reported the matter to the police before he was found out.

The two former officers were sentenced to six and nine years at a trial in Hanoi in September last year.