Vietnam: Vietnamese property magnate Truong My Lan was sentenced to death in a billion-dollar fraud case. Truong Mai Lan, chairwoman of prominent developer firm Van Thinh Phat, was accused of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) for more than a decade.
Truong My Lan and dozens of other co-defendants were sentenced in one of the country’s biggest fraud cases involving the embezzlement of $12.5 billion. Lan and 85 others were adjudicated and sentenced in Ho Chi Minh City after a trial that lasted five weeks. The list of co-accused includes former central bankers, former government officials and former SCB officials.
They are accused of bribery, abuse of power, embezzlement and violation of banking law. However, Lan had denied the allegations and pointed the finger at subordinates. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Lan, a rare move in such cases. She was among 85 people arrested in Vietnam in a nationwide anti-corruption campaign targeting government figures and business leaders.
Lan, in his final statement in court last week, hinted at suicidal thoughts. “Because of my frustration, I thought about death,” she said, according to state media. “I am so angry that I was so stupid to get involved in this very terrible business environment—the banking sector,” she said. About which I have very little knowledge.
Following his arrest in October 2022, hundreds of people began protesting in the capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. A heavy police presence was seen outside the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi on Wednesday, a location that has been the center of protests in the past. Authorities have identified nearly 42,000 individuals affected by the scam, which sent shockwaves across the Southeast Asian nation.
