Berlin is expelling Vietnam’s ambassador and its intelligence agency station chief after a former senior official of the Hanoi government was allegedly kidnapped and smuggled out of Germany.
The two men were given 48 hours to leave on Wednesday after what Berlin said was the abduction late last month of Trinh Xuan Thanh, who faces charges of financial mismanagement in Vietnam. The 51-year-old former executive of PetroVietnam, the state oil company, is accused of causing losses of €150m.
Mr Thanh, who was simultaneously fighting extradition and seeking asylum in Germany, turned himself in to police in Hanoi on Monday, according to reports quoting the Vietnamese public security ministry. But the German foreign ministry said there was “no serious doubt” that Mr Thanh had been kidnapped with the involvement of the Vietnamese embassy.