Bussinesswoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan and her 7 staff members appear to have been informed in advance for threat of being arrested by Vietnamese authorities and have fled abroad. She has been to Germany for a few months now and is currently living in a big city. Vietnam has sent Germany a request to extradite her but the German Federal Justice Service rejected the request. And the German Foreign Ministry is said to have warned Vietnam about further illegal actions. “The German Federal Government will not tolerate any interference by foreign states on the German territory,” the German Foreign Ministry wrote. The German police also contacted Nhan directly and warned of her dangerous condition.
On August 7, the German daily TAZ published a 3-page article on special news topics, reporting on the case of Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan hiding in Germany and right away. The front page of the newspaper, with a large print of Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of the ruling Communist Party, occupies half of the page, on which is printed the headline “Dear greetings from Berlin” (referring to the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh in 2017) to introduce the article in the third page: “TAZ exclusive article: The Vietnamese Secret Service seems to be searching in Germany for a powerful Vietnamese woman who is believed to be involved in political fights. The German security services are on alert – memories of Trinh Xuan Thanh’s kidnapping in 2017 are awakened.”
The following are excerpts from the main parts of the article.
Six years ago, the Vietnamese secret service kidnapped a renegade official in Berlin. But now the kidnapping could be repeated. Because once again, a person being hunted by Hanoi has gone to Germany to hide, this time a woman named Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan. This woman is also facing a similar fate.
This 54-year-old woman plays an important role in Vietnam: She brought to the country goods the Southeast Asian nation should not be allowed to buy, mainly weapons. She was a foreign trade businesswoman, in addition to her mother tongue is Vietnamese, she also speaks fluent English, Russian, Japanese and a little Chinese. She is the CEO of Advanced International Company (AIC), a Vietnamese company operating in the field of foreign trade, sending Vietnamese workers abroad, but also active in construction projects in the home country.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan also has an international reputation. A Russian institute awarded her two honorary doctorates. In 2018, she was also honored to be awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government, one of Japan’s highest honors. She is also said to have excellent relations with Israel.
AIC’s chief accountant, Do Van Son, was extradited to Vietnam from where he was hiding
But, in May 2022, several employees of AIC, and local medical politicians were arrested and detained on charges of fraud and corruption in hospital construction bidding. Nhan and her 7 staff members likely have been informed in advance and have fled abroad. AIC’s chief accountant, Do Van Son, was extradited to Vietnam from his hiding place, United Arab Emirates, in June 2023. The basis for the extradition was a wanted notice from the Vietnamese government through Interpol, a “red flag wanted“, as the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates confirmed to German newspaper TAZ. This man is currently being detained in Vietnam.
Vietnamese authorities are said to have tried to extradite another employee who escaped to the US (Nguyen Dang Thuyet, director of Thanh An Hanoi company) but was unsuccessful. The fate of the remaining five escapees is unknown. However, these people were sentenced in absentia to long prison terms by Vietnamese courts in January this year. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, the boss of AIC, was sentenced to the heaviest sentence of 30 years in prison for fraud and corruption in the bidding procedure. She was also prosecuted in at least one other case. Her large assets, including a lakeside villa in Hanoi, were confiscated.
Since May 2022, Vietnam has been trying to track down Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan with high pressure. The state-controlled press recently said that Ms. Nhan is avoiding personal responsibility by running away – “therefore, it must be dealt with strictly to ensure deterrence and general prevention.” With similar statements in 2016 and 2017, Trinh Xuan Thanh, who was wanted and subsequently kidnapped, was outlawed (i.e., placed in a state of complete lack of rights and protection). In both cases, the Vietnamese authorities knew long ago that the people they wanted had fled abroad.
On the other hand, the Israeli media suggested that behind the arrest warrant of Ms. Nhan there was a power struggle between the party leader and the prime minister over the purchase of weapons. Israel has grown into an important arms supplier to Vietnam, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan is the broker of important deals there. These include unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), air defense systems, tanks or missiles. However, party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and powerful Minister of Public Security To Lam want to trade weapons with traditional partners, Russia, China … – also because their people do good business in there as a broker and because Russia is an indispensable partner for training the Vietnam Navy.
The German Foreign Ministry warned Vietnam: “The German Federal Government will not tolerate any interference by foreign countries in the German territory.”
According to information from TAZ, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan has been to Germany for a few months now and is currently living in a big city. Before that, she is said to have fled to Japan and then to London, where her daughter is said to be living. The Vietnamese Secret Service is also said to be aware of her stay in Germany. The Vietnamese Embassy in Germany did not respond to TAZ’s questions about this. As for Ms. Nhan, TAZ could not be contacted.
German authorities are well aware of the 54-year-old woman’s dangerous situation. Specifically, neither the Foreign Ministry nor the security services would like to comment on the case, because in principle, personal data is not allowed to be released. However, according to TAZ’s information, some agencies are busy with the Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan case, they see a real threat. Vietnam has reportedly sent Germany a request to extradite Ms. Nhan – but the German Federal Justice Service rejected the request. Since the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh in 2017, all extraditions to Vietnam have, in general, been refused, German government officials said. And the German Foreign Ministry is said to have warned Vietnam about further illegal actions. “The Federal Government of Germany will not tolerate any interference by foreign states on the German territory,” the German Foreign Ministry wrote.
However, the possibility that Vietnam will dare to commit another kidnapping cannot be ruled out – despite the diplomatic disaster following the abduction of Trinh Xuan Thanh. The intensity of the search for the woman, who is currently the most wanted Vietnamese woman, shows this. Moreover, the fact is that after the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh, the Vietnamese secret service kidnapped two other Vietnamese citizens from Thailand. In 2019 is journalist Truong Duy Nhat, and this year is blogger Duong Van Thai. Both are currently imprisoned in Vietnam.
This time the German security services were alerted – different from 2017 in the kidnapping case of Trinh Xuan Thanh. Back then, hardly anyone could have imagined that the Vietnamese secret service would kidnap a person from Germany. Even when Trinh Xuan Thanh’s female lawyer informed the Berlin police about her client’s disappearance, she asked to consider that maybe the Vietnamese secret service had kidnapped him, but the police were presumed to have ruled out that possibility.
This time it was different: According to TAZ, the German police contacted Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan directly and warned about the dangerous situation that the Vietnamese secret service was looking for her. Whether that will be of any use to Ms. Nhan, the coming weeks will show.
Source of TAZ newspaper (online newspaper): https://taz.de/Drohende-Entfuehrung-vietnamesischer-Frau/!5952435/
