Nguyễn Thanh Long (born September 3, 1966) is a Vietnamese politician and doctor who served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

from July 2020 to his removal from the

Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the col ...

in June 2022 for involvement in the Việt Á corruption scandal. During his term as Minister of Health, he was in acting capacity from July to November 2020. He has been noted for being one of the chief strategists of the response of the Vietnamese government to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In January 2024, he was sentenced to 18 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

for taking

bribes Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

worth

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2.25 million.

Early life and education

Career

Long graduated in Infectious Medicine from Hanoi Medical University in 1995 and received his doctors degree in 2003. He received the title of Professor in 2013. Between 2005 and 2011, he oversaw HIV/AIDS prevention at the Ministry of Health and from 2011 to 2018 he served as Deputy Minister of Health, before being appointed Deputy Director of the Central Propaganda Department. At the start of the

, he returned as Deputy Minister of Health and since July 2020 as acting Minister of Health. He has been credited as one of the strategists behind Vietnam's widely praised success during 2020 in responding to and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. On 12 November 2020, he officially became the Minister of Health.

Relief of duty and expulsion from Communist Party

On 6 June 2022, the

Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam The Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee is the highest body of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in between gatherings of the National Congress and of the plenary sessions Central Committee. Accord ...

summoned an extraordinary meeting of the 13th Central Committee at the Party's HQ, review and enforce disciplinary actions against Nguyễn Thanh Long and the chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngọc Anh. After reviewing the Politburo's request, based on the content, the basis of the situation, the level of consequences and the caused of violation; according to the Party's rules on disciplining violated Party members, the Central Committee decided for both Long and Anh. In the morning of 7 June 2022, with a majority in favor, the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

approved the stripping of Long's status as a member of the 15th National Assembly and approved the recommendation of his removal as the Minister of Health. President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc issued Executive Decision No.658/QĐ-CTN regarding Long's relief of duty as the Minister of Health, agreeing on the Prime Minister's recommendation, effective that day. The

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

's official statement stated that: ″Comrade Nguyễn Thanh Long has severely deteriorated his political ideology and morality; has violated the law and the Party's rules; has violated the Party member's Code of Conduct, leading to the loss and waste of State Budget; severely affected the State's response to the COVID-19 pandemic; causing public outcry and affected the credibility of the Party and the Ministry of Health″.

Prosecution, arrest and conviction

On 7 June 2022, the Investigative Department of the

Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...

announced an extended investigation into the Viet A COVID-19 test kit scandal, which saw multiple high ranking officials arrested on the charges of: "Violating regulations of the law on bidding which leads to serious consequences", "Abuse of power or position in performance of official duties", "Giving Bribes" and "Receiving Bribes". Later that evening, alongside former chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngọc Anh and former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Phạm Công Tạc, Nguyễn Thanh Long was issued a Prosecution Decision, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

and a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...

by the Ministry of Public Security on the charges of "abuse of power or position in performance of official duties". He was taken into custody after a 3-hour long search at his private residence. On 12 January 2024, he was sentenced to 18 years in

for taking

worth

2.25 million. He was convicted of colluding with a private medical firm, namely Viet A Technology Corp to sell the COVID-19 test kits at inflated prices. He was also quoted by Phap Luat Online Newspaper as having apologised during the trial.

Notes

References