Defendants at the first-instance trial in Hà Nội on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Kim Anh

HÀ NỘI — Former chairman of the board of MediUSA Pharmaceutical JSC Nguyễn Năng Mạnh, has been recommended for a prison sentence of between 15 and 18 years on three charges of manufacturing and trading counterfeit food, food products and food additives; violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences; and offering bribes.

Mạnh also served as director of MegaPharco Pharmaceutical JSC (MegaPharco), deputy director of MediPhar Pharmaceutical JSC (MediPhar) and a founding shareholder of Hùng Phương Chemical Pharmaceutical JSC.

The sentencing recommendation was made by prosecutors on Tuesday afternoon during the first-instance trial of 14 defendants in a case involving the alleged manufacture and sale of counterfeit food, food products and food additives, violations of accounting regulations causing serious consequences, bribery, acceptance of bribes and deliberate disclosure of confidential official information at MediPhar.

The prosecutors also recommended a prison sentence of between 11 and 13 years for Đỗ Mạnh Hoàng, director of MediPhar, on two charges of manufacturing and trading counterfeit food, food products and food additives, and violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences.

The remaining 12 defendants were recommended sentences ranging from a nine-month suspended prison term to 11 years' imprisonment for the offences charged.

Under the prosecution's indictment, Mạnh was the mastermind behind the scheme, directing co-defendants Hoàng and Khúc Minh Vũ, director of Việt Đức Company, to manufacture and trade counterfeit food products and to commit serious accounting violations.

Acting on Mạnh's instructions, Hoàng and Vũ allegedly directed other defendants to produce and distribute counterfeit products and to falsify accounting records in breach of the law.

With regard to employees working within the corporate network controlled by Mạnh, Hoàng and Vũ, the prosecutors said they committed the offences under instruction, acting as accomplices. However, they received only salaries and did not share in the proceeds generated from the counterfeit goods or the accounting violations. The prosecutors therefore argued that their criminal liability should be distinguished accordingly when determining sentences.

The prosecution separately identified three defendants Nguyễn Hữu Tuân, Nguyễn Thế Việt (the Customs Control and Supervision Department under Vietnam Customs) and Phan Công Chiến (Drug Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health), as having accepted money from Mạnh in exchange for facilitating the clearance of imported raw materials and overlooking irregularities.

According to the prosecutors, Tuân played the leading role in receiving the payments and assigned the other two officials to assist him in carrying out tasks requested by Mạnh.

The prosecutors determined that between 2016 and 2025, Mạnh and his associates established an "ecosystem" centred on production facilities operated by MediPhar and MediUSA to manufacture health supplements for sale on the market.

The prosecutors alleged that the group copied product formulations from the internet and from other brands to develop their own health supplements, which contained less than 30 per cent of the active ingredients declared on their labels.

During the production of the counterfeit products, the defendants were also accused of bribing officials at the Ministry of Health's Việt Nam Food Administration to obtain product registration certificates for 200 health supplement products. Of these, 88 were determined to be counterfeit, generating total revenue of VNĐ540 billion (US$20.8 million).

In addition, the prosecutors alleged that Mạnh maintained two separate accounting systems to conceal more than VNĐ1.7 trillion ($65.4 million) in revenue, resulting in tax losses exceeding VNĐ300 billion ($11.5 million). — VNS