JAKARTA - A Vietnamese court on Saturday sentenced the head of the Hanoi Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of marking up equipment to help deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nguyen Nhat Cam, 57, was accused of inflating the cost of the COVID-19 testing system during the transaction, costing the state budget of 5.4 billion Vietnamese dong, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
The actions of Cam and his lackeys will have a negative impact on the image of doctors and the anti-COVID-19 agency, infuriating the public and destroying trust in the health sector, the statement said.
The court also sentenced nine other people to three to 6.5 years in prison for their involvement.
Reported by Antara on Sunday, Reuters was unable to reach their lawyers for comment on the case.
With usually strict tracking and quarantine measures, Vietnam has been able to quickly prevent the coronavirus outbreak.
Currently there are a total of 1,395 cases and 35 deaths of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian country.
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