It's The 'Only Door Still Open': Princess Diana Crash Investigator Says White Fiat Uno Lead Could Crack The Case — But Says Mystery Driver Is ‘Not The Real Culprit’
French investigators recently expressed their frustration with failing to interview the driver of the white Fiat Uno that allegedly collided with Princess Diana’s Mercedes S280 moments before her tragic death, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The shocking revelation comes exactly 25 years after Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, were killed in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France on August 31, 1997.
Even more shocking is the fact that Martine Monteil, who serves as the head of the Brigade Criminelle, has still not spoken to the suspected driver of the white Fiat Uno, Le Van Thanh, 25 years after the world-shaking incident.
"The whole of the world has struggled to accept that the Princess of Wales died in a mundane accident,” Monteil said while recording Investigating Diana: Death in Paris, a new Channel 4 documentary series investigation the death of the Princess of Wales.
"I have frustration about the Fiat Uno because I like a well-finished business,” Monteil added. "For sure, it's out there. Unfortunately, we don't have it.”
According to Monteil, although the driver of the Fiat Uno was likely involved in the collision that led to Diana and Fayed’s death, Van Thanh is “not the real culprit.”
"But you know the driver of the Fiat Uno, he's not the real culprit,” the head of the Brigade Criminelle revealed. "He's driving along quietly and then a Mercedes arrives at high speed and bumps into him. The responsibility remains with the Mercedes."
As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported Wednesday morning, we spoke to Van Thanh after he was identified in a book and a podcast linking him to the crash.
In the Channel Four documentary, Monteil never named Van Thanh as the individual whom she said French police had not tracked down.
- 'She Will Have To Live With This': Family Of Pregnant Woman Who Died In LA Multi-Car Crash Forgives Driver
- Eyewitness To Fiery LA Crash Details Horror As Baby Lands At Her Feet As Speeding Driver Kills 6, Including Pregnant Woman
- Godmother of San Diego Brothers, 4 and 8, Killed by Driver in Police-Pursuit Crash Raises Five-Figure Sum for Grieving Family
Although Van Thanh has been approached to discuss the events leading up Princess Diana’s death multiple times – including twice by former Scotland Yard Chief John Stevens in 2017 and once as part of the highly publicized Operation Paget investigation – the suspected Fiat Uno driver has demanded 500,000 euros before he would talk.
“Nothing is free in life,” he told RadarOnline.com. “You pay €500,000 for me to talk.”
“I want the money before… I already told you I don't speak for free,” Van Thanh reiterated when we asked what he would reveal in a paid interview.
Van Thanh is highly suspected to be the driver of the car involved in the crash that led to Diana, Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul’s deaths because Van Thanh owned a white Fiat Uno identical to the one reported by eyewitnesses leading up to the tragic crash.
Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana’s bodyguard and the only survivor of the crash, also remembered seeing a vehicle similar to a white Fiat Uno just moments before the collision and subsequent crash.
“My clearest, and last, memories of the night are of the Mercedes pulling away. I saw again the white or light-colored car that crossed the road and followed us,” Rees-Jones said.
In an interview for the 2019 book Diana: Case Solved, Van Thanh told investigator Dylan Howard how French police had instructed him not to speak to British prosecutors in London, recalling he was told that "it’s not the same law as in France — don’t go there.”
“They have tried to get me to help them, but this is not my job,” Van Thanh also told Howard. “That’s why I let [the public] think what they want.”
Powered by RedCircle