A Singaporean attorney said on Wednesday afternoon he had been allowed to meet his client, a man whose full name is identical to that of a magnate wanted by Vietnamese police, in Singapore.

Lawyer Remy Choo Zheng Xi visited a Singaporean court in the morning to complete necessary paperwork, including filing a request to meet his client.

The Singaporean lawyer confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper later the same day that he was permitted to meet Phan Van Anh Vu, who is being held by Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

The time and place of the meeting are to be determined, Remy Choo noted.

The lawyer has yet to obtain any details on the protocol to handle Phan Van Anh Vu, and could only elaborate on the case after meeting his client, he said.

The ICA said in a response to media inquires on Tuesday that Phan Van Anh Vu was arrested on December 26 for committing offenses under the local Immigration Act.

Lawyer Choo Zheng Xi (front left) leaves a court in Singapore on March 24, 2016. Photo: AFP

In an email response to a Tuoi Tre query, the ICA said that it could not make any further comment, reiterating only that it is holding a man named Phan Van Anh Vu.

It is unclear if Phan Van Anh Vu is also Phan Văn Anh Vũ, aka Vu “nhom” (aluminum), who is being wanted by Vietnamese police. Tuoi Tre is trying to verify if the two names belong to the same person.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security on December 21 launched legal proceedings against Vu “nhom” on charges of “deliberately disclosing state secrets,” and searched his house in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

However, neither Vu “nhom” nor his wife and children were at home when police officers began the search, prompting the Ministry of Public Security to issue a wanted notice for Phan Văn Anh Vũ.

Born in 1975, Phan Văn Anh Vũ is a business tycoon in Da Nang, owning different companies, including the I.V.C Co. Ltd., 79 JSC and Bac Nam 79 JSC, and holding a stake in several other entities such as Seaprodex and DongA Bank.