Nguyen Thanh Long
On Friday, a Vietnamese court sentenced former Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long to 18 years in prison for accepting bribes in a coronavirus test kit case.
Nguyen Thanh Long was accused of accepting $2.25 million in bribes in the case, which involved a local corporation conspiring with officials to commission a state-funded research unit to create and overprice coronavirus test kits.
During the trial, Nguyen Thanh Long apologized, saying, “I was wrong”.
The decision comes as Vietnam continues its years-long anti-graft effort, which has seen hundreds of senior officials prosecuted for corruption and several forced to quit, including former president and premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc and two deputy prime ministers.
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