Police seen at mansion of diamond tycoon’s mother in central Vietnam

Police vehicles surrounded the house in the province’s major town, Vinh, at noon. Police have not disclosed details about their presence at the mansion.

At the same time, officers were also seen at the headquarters of Thien Minh Duc, a diversified company with interests in oil, gas, property, packaging, logistics, hospitality and transportation, in the same town. Thanh serves as the chairwoman of this company.

Her son, Khoa, is dubbed "diamond tycoon" because he used to trade diamonds in Africa. Thanh holds a 77.15% stake in the firm while Khoa owns 22.77%.

Thien Minh Duc headquarters in Nghe An Province. Photo by VnExpress/Duc Hung

Thien Minh Duc, in 2023, was accused by government inspectors of violating regulations in using a government-controlled fund established to stabilize fuels prices, and of evading environmental taxes.

It therefore was ordered to submit an additional VND3.3 trillion (US$130 million) in environmental taxes for the 2018-2021 period.

Thanh was blocked from exiting the country in December 2023 for her company’s tax debts. By April last year the company still owned over VND1 trillion in taxes, according to Nghe An authorities.

At the time it was fined VND85 million for violations in fuel distribution and was banned from fuel trading for 45 days.