Arrest of energy expert Ngo Thi To Nhien and 2 EVN officials

On September 30, at the regular Government press conference in September 2023, Lieutenant General To An Xo, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, said that the authorities had arrested Ms. Ngo Thi To Nhien, Director of Vietnam Energy Transition Initiative Company Limited (VIETSE); along with 2 officials of EVN Group.

Previously, on September 20, the Investigation Security Agency, Hanoi City Police issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused, and temporarily detain Ngo Thi To Nhien, born in 1974, Director of Vietnam Energy Transition Initiative Company Limited, for the crime of Appropriating documents of agencies and organizations as prescribed in Article 342 of the Penal Code.

Lieutenant General To An Xo informed at the press conference.

Also prosecuted and temporarily detained in this case are Duong Duc Viet (born in 1979, senior expert, Investment Management Board of the National Power Transmission Corporation, part of EVN Group); and Le Quoc Anh (born in 1984, Head of System Analysis Department, Electricity Consulting Company 1).

From the investigation results, the collected evidence determined that since 2020, Ngo Thi To Nhien knew Le Quoc Anh and Duong Duc Viet, who were the people who had access to information and documents related to planning on the power grid development policy of EVN Group, on the 500KV and 200KV power grids.

Nhien legalized the appropriation of documents by signing labor contracts and expert contracts with Duong Duc Viet and Le Quoc Anh on a part-time, paid basis. The two defendants provided EVN-related documents to Nhien.

"The violations committed by Ngo Thi To Nhien, Le Quoc Anh, and Duong Duc Viet constitute the crime of appropriating documents of an organization or agency. The police are continuing to expand the investigation," said Lieutenant General To An Xo.

After Nhien was prosecuted, a number of foreign media agencies and exiled reactionary organizations reported distorted news, falsely accusing Vietnam of arresting environmental activists.

"The Ministry of Public Security rejects the above distortions and considers it an act of interference in Vietnam's internal affairs. There is absolutely no such thing as arresting an environmental activist. This is an act of appropriating agency information and documents," the Ministry of Public Security spokesperson affirmed.

Minh Tue - Nguyen Duc

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