Vietnam Ex Health Minister Gets 18 Years In Jail Over Covid Scam: Report

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.

Nguyen Thanh Long was accused of taking bribes worth $2.25 million in the scandal, in which a local firm 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 Nguyen Thanh Long's lawyers for comment.

"I was wrong, I am sorry," Nguyen Thanh Long was quoted by the newspaper as saying at the trial.

The verdict 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, including former president and premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc and two deputy prime ministers.

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