- Truong My Lan sentenced to death for embezzlement in Vietnam
- The trial is part of a broader anti-corruption campaign
- Lan found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and banking violations
In Vietnam, Truong My Lan received a sentence for her involvement in a $12.5 billion embezzlement case, which is a component of a significant campaign against corruption.
Vietnam has handed down the death penalty to a property magnate following the country’s largest fraud trial in its recorded history.
State media reported that Truong My Lan was sentenced by a court in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, following a month-long trial in which he was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violations of banking regulations.
A fraud accusation was lodged against the 67-year-old chairman of Van Thinh Phat (VTP), which equated to $12.5 billion, or approximately 3% of the nation’s GDP in 2022.
Between 2012 and 2022, Lan and her accomplices were accused of unlawfully controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) to misappropriate funds using thousands of fictitious companies and bribery of government officials.
Investigators claim that Lan misappropriated substantial sums between early 2018 and October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB following a run on its deposits, by orchestrating illegitimate loans to shell companies.
State media prominently featured images and video of Lan in the courtroom, surrounded by dozens of police officers, at the onset of the trial.
Last month, the Thanh Nien newspaper cited prosecutors as saying, “Lan did not plead guilty and did not show remorse” while demanding the death penalty for embezzlement.
It was further stated that since the repercussions are irreparable and exceedingly severe, Truong My Lan must be subjected to severe punishment and expelled from society.
Thursday’s state media VnExpress reported that the severe sentence was a result of the gravity of the case; the court stated that Lan was in charge of a sophisticated and well-coordinated criminal enterprise with severe repercussions and that there was no chance that the money could be recovered.
“We will continue to fight to see what we can do,” a family member stated under the condition of anonymity to the Reuters news agency. He had stated before the verdict being rendered that Lan would file an appeal of the sentence.
Thanh Nien reported that 84 defendants in the case were sentenced to varying degrees of life imprisonment to probation.
VTP was one of the wealthiest real estate corporations in Vietnam, having completed projects such as office buildings, hotels, luxury residential complexes, and shopping centres.
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The October 2022 apprehension of Lan was one of the most prominent in Vietnam’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
Several hundred prominent business leaders and senior state officials have been prosecuted or compelled to resign as a result of the “blazing furnace” assault.
March saw the resignation of former president Vo Van Thuong, who was implicated in the campaign.
The leader of the governing Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, has vowed for years to eradicate corruption from the nation.
He stated that the struggle against corruption would “continue for the long term” in November.
