Court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12bn fraud case

2 December 2024, 22:36 | Updated: 3 December 2024, 06:39

A court in Vietnam has upheld a death sentence for a real estate tycoon after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery.

Truong My Lan, chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced in April for her role in fraud worth more than $12bn.

This equates to nearly 3% of Vietnam's GDP - a measure of national wealth - and represents the country's biggest ever fraud case.

The 67-year-old was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules following a month-long trial.

"The consequences Lan caused are unprecedented in the history of litigation and the amount of money embezzled is unprecedentedly large and unrecoverable," the prosecution said, as reported by VietnamNet.

"The defendant's actions have affected many aspects of society, the financial market, the economy."

Lan and her accomplices were charged with illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) between 2012 and 2022 to siphon funds through thousands of ghost companies and by bribing government officials.

From early 2018 to October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits, Lan appropriated large sums by arranging unlawful loans to shell companies, investigators said.

Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress reported if Lan can return three-quarters of the money embezzled while on death row, it is possible the sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

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Reuters news agency reports documents it has reviewed show Vietnam's central bank had as of April pumped $24bn into the SCB in an "unprecedented rescue".

In her mitigation, Lan's lawyers argued she has admitted guilt, shown remorse and paid back part of the money, state media reported.

Lan still has the right to request a review.

(c) Sky News 2024: Court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12bn fraud case