A former Vietnam Health Minister, Nguyen Thanh Long, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes in a coronavirus test kit scandal.
Long was reported accused of receiving $2.25 million.
Long who was sentenced by a court in Vietnam on Friday was involved 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.
“I was wrong, I am sorry,” Long said 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.
