Co Threatened With Trial

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31278, 26 January 1967, Page 12

Co Threatened With Trial

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SAIGON, January 25. The Deputy Prime Minister, General Nguyen Huu Co, the third ranking man in South Vietnam’s Government, has been warned he will face a military trial on corruption charges if he returns to the country from abroad, reliable sources said today.

General Co, who also holds the powerful post of Defence Minister, was touring Formosa when the Government —at Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky’s order—sent him a telegram telling him not to come home, they said.

Observers said it was too early to tell if General Co’s removal would have serious repercussions in South Vietnam.

Several followers of the Defence Minister were placed under house arrest today. Informed Vietnamese sources said defence staff assistants of General Co were being transferred or watched by security police. Police officers said from 20 to 30 arrests had taken place in the last 48 hours. No Troop Movement

No troop movements were reported. Some officers of the Seventh Vietnamese Division quartered at My Tho, 30 miles south of the capital in the Mekong delta, were among those under arrest, sources said. The Chief of State, General

Nguyen Van Thieu, was reported travelling in the delta today while Marshal Ky was winding up a four-day official tour in New Zealand. Marshal Ky was expected back in Saigon late tomorrow or early Friday. In spite of Marshal Ky’s statement to reporters in New Zealand yesterday that no Governmental reshuffle was taking place, sources said the Prime Minister was present at a meeting of the ruling directory before he departed when the decision to drop General Co was taken.

General Co was on an official visit to Formosa when he was advised by telegram on Sunday that he should not return to South Vietnam. The message, which sources said was signed by the directory, advised him to remain overseas and suggested he visit Tokyo and Seoul. Marshal Ky faced the possibility of one of the greatest crises of his 19 months in power, United Press International said. General Co has been the highest ranking “Southerner” —a native of South Vietnam —in Northerner Ky’s Cabinet. The Southerners have shown a willingness to rebel. Marshal Ky had just smoothed over a Cabinet crisis that developed during last year’s Manila conference, United Press International said. The crisis centred on regionalism, Southerners charging Marshal Ky with packing his Cabinet with Northerners.

The move against General Co broke into the open two days ago. The Government

flashed an alert at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airfield. The base was sealed off, the troops moved into the area. Machineguns lined the road to the base.

The base-sealing came at the time two airliners were scheduled to arrive from Taipei and from Hong Kong. It was learned later the Government knew General Co was not aboard either airliner but had been alarmed by reports of an approaching non-scheduled airplane from Formosa. The reports proved false later. Reports that General Co planned to fly back from Hong Kong today, in defiance of orders, sent military police and security guards rushing to Saigon airport—a repetition of an incident on Monday—but he was not on the scheduled flight. Informed sources said the Security Minister, General Ling Quang Vien flew to the

British colony yesterday to persuade him to stay away. General Co arrived in Hong Kong from Taipeh today and booked a flight to Saigon. But he did not board his plane, and instead checked into a Kowloon hotel, to stay until January 29.