Vietnam corruption scandal sees two women accused of bribing mental health institute for favorable diagnoses

Vietnamese prosecutors have charged two women with large‑scale bribery aimed at manipulating psychiatric assessments. Nguyen Thị Mai Anh, a repeat offender with seven prior convictions, is accused of paying more than VND 4.1 billion to officials of the Central Institute of Forensic Psychiatry to obtain false mental‑health verdicts for her husband and son. The indictment lists three offences – fraud, bribery facilitation and bribery – and names former institute heads Trần Văn Trường and Ngô Văn Vinh among the over 60 co‑defendants.

In a separate but related case, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc, wife of DJ Thái Hoàng, allegedly transferred VND 1.4 billion to secure a psychiatric evaluation that would allow her husband to avoid criminal sentencing. The investigation links her to a network that includes the same former institute officials and details payments totalling more than VND 2 billion. Both cases involve accusations of using money to influence forensic psychiatric conclusions, highlighting systemic corruption within Vietnam’s mental‑health judicial process.