She had been convicted in April of embezzlement and bribery over the fraud amounting to US$12.5 billion, nearly 3 per cent of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP
Truong My Lan (right) in a court in Ho Chi Minh city, on Tuesday. Pic/AFP
The death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was upheld on Tuesday in Vietnam’s largest fraud case, the scale of which had raised concerns about the country’s economy. She had been convicted in April of embezzlement and bribery over the fraud amounting to US$12.5 billion, nearly 3 per cent of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP.
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As chairperson of the Van Thinh Phat real estate firm, Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that cost the bank US$27 billion in losses. The court in Ho Chi Minh rejected her appeal against the conviction while adding that her death sentence could be commuted to life if she reimburses three-fourth of the losses, working out to around USD 11 billion, state media reported.
Her lawyers argued that she had repaid the money but the court disagreed since there were legal issues with some of the seized properties and prosecuting agencies couldn’t assess their value. Lan’s lawyers also noted several mitigating circumstances—she had admitted guilt, showed remorse and had paid back part of the amount. “I feel pained due to the waste of national resources,” she said last week, state media reported.
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