Mỗi chữ ký của nữ Cục trưởng An toàn thực phẩm giá 'ít nhất 2 triệu đồng'

According to the investigation, the application for a certificate confirming the basic content of the advertisement was deemed complete, yet Director Tran Viet Nga still returned it for unclear reasons in order to extort bribes of 2-3.5 million VND.

The actions of former Director of Food Safety of the Ministry of Health, Tran Viet Nga (Deputy Director from 2018-2024, Director from 2024 until his arrest), Nguyen Thanh Phong (Director from 2018-2024), along with two deputies and 30 subordinates, were cited in a newly issued conclusion by the Office of the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security (C01), recommending prosecution for the crime of receiving bribes. In the same case, 21 people are accused of giving bribes.

According to Articles 26 and 27 of Decree 15/2018, health supplements, medical nutrition products, and products for special diets must register their content before advertising. Therefore, the Food Safety Department of the Ministry of Health will handle the registration process and issue a certificate confirming the advertising content for health supplements.

The dossier at the Department includes: application form, product declaration, label sample, and proposed advertising content. The fee is 1.1 million VND per dossier.

The focal point is the Food Poisoning Surveillance and Information and Communication Department, consisting of 14 people. After receiving the dossier, Tran Thi Thu Lieu, Deputy Head of the Department, will assign specialists to handle and review it. If the dossier is not complete, a letter will be issued requesting the business to supplement the information, and only one such letter is allowed.

 From July 2018, Ms. Nga, as the Deputy Director, was assigned the responsibility of signing confirmation documents. The investigation determined that initially, she usually signed on time, but later, even though the documents basically followed the proper procedures, she would delay processing and return them with unclear and unconvincing reasons. Businesses, impatient, approached the document reviewers to inquire about the reasons, but received only vague answers.

After being repeatedly urged, Lieu met with Ms. Nga and was told that there needed to be a clear mechanism for document approval. Ms. Nga demanded at least 2 million VND for each document submitted to the Department's leadership, according to the investigation report.

"All departments in the Department operate this way, and it must be explained discreetly and discreetly to the staff," Ms. Nga instructed, assigning Lieu as the point of contact for managing the money collected from individuals requesting confirmation documents. Following her superior's instructions, Deputy Lieu relayed the information but instructed the staff to "proactively give Ms. Nga a thank-you gift."  Lieu was not responsible for the overall compilation.

Former Director Tran Viet Nga. Photo: Linh Dan

With the opportunity presented, the officials suggested that businesses wanting to receive their certificates on time without multiple revisions had to pay extra fees. For each application, the officials would collect between 2 and 8 million VND, either in cash or via bank transfer.

Specifically, officials collected 4 million VND for simple applications; 5-6 million VND for applications with elaborate, flowery content, lots of text, or advertising videos under 30 seconds; for longer videos, an additional 1 million VND was charged. The bribe increased to 6-7 million or 8 million VND for expedited application and video approval.

The officials agreed on a profit-sharing mechanism based on different levels of authority.  Specifically, Nga received between 2 and 3.5 million VND per application, while Lieu received between 500,000 and 750,000 VND. Specialists, depending on their rank, received between 200,000 and over 300,000 VND per application.

From February 2018 to December 2024, six specialists from the Food Poisoning Surveillance and Information and Communication Department directly received 12.7 billion VND from businesses seeking advertising content approval. Specialist Nguyen Thi Viet Ha received the most, with 5 billion VND transferred to her personal account from 29 individuals and 148 million VND in cash. The remaining five specialists received money via bank accounts.

The investigating agency alleges that Nga received 8 billion VND, Lieu 1.5 billion VND, and Ha 823 million VND.  Others received between 99 million and 672 million VND.

Mr. Le Hoang, the husband of Ms. Tran Viet Nga, is also accused of receiving bribes in the case. Photo: Ministry of Health

Ms. Nga is accused of masterminding and leading the bribery, and is criminally responsible for a total of 12.7 billion VND, and must return 8 billion VND of her share to the state treasury. During the investigation, Ms. Nga confessed to all her crimes and voluntarily returned 1.5 billion VND.

Ms. Nga's husband, Le Hoang, Head of the Standards and Testing Management Department, is also a defendant in this case. Mr. Hoang is accused of allowing specialists to receive money from individuals submitting product registration applications, then aggregating the money and giving it to the Department's leadership.  According to the profit-sharing mechanism, Mr. Hoang received nearly 1 billion VND from 2018 to 2023.

Businesses proactively address obstacles posed by 'vague legal regulations'

The investigation concluded that businesses encountered many difficulties during the application process due to vague legal regulations and a lack of detailed guidance. Meanwhile, the Food Safety Department frequently withheld applications, creating obstacles. As a result, individuals providing these services proactively contacted specialists for guidance and assistance in obtaining permits.

The investigation concluded that businesses encountered many obstacles during the application process due to vague legal regulations and a lack of detailed guidance. Meanwhile, the Food Safety Department frequently withheld applications, creating difficulties. As a result, individuals providing these services proactively contacted specialists for guidance and assistance in obtaining the necessary permits.

When registering product declarations online via the software

Nghidinh15vfa.gov.vn, individuals would receive a file code. They would then text this file code to the specialist to receive "facilitation" and agree to pay an additional fee of 5 to 10 million VND per transaction. The money was usually transferred via bank transfer with a description such as debt repayment, loan, or using unique characters to represent the file number.

[Image caption: Former Director Nguyen Thanh Phong at the time of his arrest.]  Photo: VTV

Currently, C01 has identified several individuals providing product registration and advertising content verification services who have repeatedly transferred money to specialists, totaling nearly 80 billion VND. The money transferors are mainly individuals providing the service or directors of companies requesting the product registration.

The person who transferred the most money is Tran Thi Quynh Trang, who specializes in product registration and advertising content verification services. Trang is accused of transferring money and giving cash to 21 specialists, totaling 33.5 billion VND.

In addition to the 21 people accused of bribery, C01 is continuing its investigation into more than 150 other individuals who allegedly bribed specialists at the Food Safety Department with 24.5 billion VND. The investigating agency stated that the number of bribe-givers is large, mostly ranging from 2 million to less than 100 million VND, and they reside in many different locations, so it will take time to verify and assess the nature and extent of the bribes before taking action.