Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan (C) watches a court in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11, 2024. A prominent Vietnamese real estate tycoon could face the death penalty when she and dozens of other co-accused face verdicts on the 11th April to one of the country’s largest fraud cases involving the embezzlement of $12.5 billion.
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Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday for her involvement in the country’s biggest-ever financial fraud case, state media Thanh Nien reported.
Lan was found guilty of embezzlement, corruption and violating bank lending rules. According to state media, she was sentenced to death on the embezzlement charge and 20 years in prison on each of the other two charges.
Lan, president of real estate development company Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was accused of embezzling assets from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) by taking out illegal loans to Van Thinh Phat and shell companies.
Much of Lan’s defense was based on the fact that her lawyers argued that she only controlled about 15% of the bank and had no official position in the bank, suggesting that the embezzlement charges were inappropriate, local media reported .
However, witnesses who held large shares told the court they had been instructed to act on Lan’s behalf. The judges then found that Lan held a controlling stake of more than 90% in SCB through proxies and was the de facto owner of the bank, local media reported.
The loans reportedly totaled $44 billion and accounted for more than 90% of SCB’s loans between 2012 and 2022. Approximately $12.3 billion was channeled to Van Thinh Phat while other funds were been used privately. Some of the more than 1,000 loans had been paid off by Lan, the judges found, but the court said he should fully compensate the bank.
Lan was first arrested in 2022, on charges dating back about 10 years. In addition to Lan, more than 80 other people, including central bank officials, have been accused of damaging the SCB, state media reported.
Reuters reported Thursday that a family member confirmed Lan will appeal the sentence.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the report.
The case against Lan is part of a broader crackdown on corruption that has been spearheaded by Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party and has been dubbed the “fiery furnace.” High-level politicians, including former Vietnamese presidents, have been forced to resign in connection with the campaign, and hundreds of officials and businessmen have been convicted.