The Crooked Official: Facilitating the Fake Goods Trade, A Prime Ministerial Emergency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered ministries, sectors, and localities to continue their intensified efforts to prevent and combat smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property rights infringements, as outlined in Official Dispatch No. 72.

According to the dispatch, the intensified campaign has initially detected, prevented, and handled numerous violations and offenders involved in the production and trade of counterfeit milk, medicines, and food products.

However, the Prime Minister noted that the situation of smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property rights infringements remains complex and requires further attention.

To continue the fight against these illegal activities and protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and businesses, the Prime Minister requested that ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and Chairpersons of provincial and municipal People’s Committees maintain their determination and exert greater efforts in the campaign.

The dispatch emphasized the importance of “timely detection and strict handling of violators, as well as the punishment of officials, civil servants, and officers who show signs of moral decline, corruption, negativity, or collusion with law violators.”

The Prime Minister also suggested that the Provincial and Municipal Party Committee Secretaries continue to lead and direct the participation of party organizations and the political system in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods.

Additionally, the Minister of Health was assigned to urgently submit to the Government a draft amendment to Decree No. 15/2018/NĐ-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety, with a completion deadline of May.

The Minister of Health was also tasked with coordinating with relevant agencies to report to the Government and propose to competent authorities the handling of limitations and inadequacies of the Law on Food Safety as suggested by ministries and sectors, especially the Ministry of Public Security. This task should be completed before June 5 to ensure submission to the National Assembly in June.

Recently, several state officials have been prosecuted for colluding with units producing counterfeit and imitation goods. On May 13, the Investigation Police Agency (C03) of the Ministry of Public Security prosecuted and arrested Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, former Director of the Department of Food Safety, along with four accomplices, for “taking bribes” in the case of producing and trading counterfeit goods, food additives, and violating accounting regulations, causing serious consequences at MediPhar Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and related units and organizations.

The former Director of Food Safety was found to have repeatedly ignored and colluded with the inspection and certification process, granting certificates to the MediPhar and Mediusa factories to produce numerous counterfeit products.

Speaking on the sidelines of the National Assembly, Delegate Pham Van Hoa of Dong Thap Province stated that the actions of the aforementioned former officials not only aided and abetted the violations of enterprises but also indirectly poisoned people.

Investigation agencies should clarify whether individuals and organizations with authority have fulfilled their responsibilities. “Don’t let a situation occur where only a few facilities are strictly handled while many others remain outside the law,” Mr. Hoa emphasized.