HANOI - A court in Vietnam on Friday sentenced former health minister Nguyen Thanh Long to 18 years in prison after finding him guilty of taking bribes in a coronavirus test kit scandal, state media reported.
Long was accused of taking bribes worth $2.25 million in the scandal, in which a local company was accused of colluding with officials to commission a state-funded research unit to produce and overstate its prices of coronavirus test kits, Phap Luat Online newspaper said.
Reuters could not immediately reach Long’s lawyers for comment.
“I was wrong, I am sorry,” Long was quoted by the newspaper as saying at the trial.
The ruling comes as Vietnam intensifies its years-long anti-graft campaign that has seen hundreds of senior officials investigated for corruption, with many forced to quit.
Among the other high-profile figures forced out were former president and premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc and two deputy prime ministers.