Vietnam sentences businesswoman to death penalty for massive $27 billion fraud

a court of Vietnam sentenced on Thursday to death penalty to real estate tycoon Truong My Lan for one of the country’s biggest corruption cases, with damages estimated at US$27 billion.

The jury rejected all of the defense’s arguments. Truong My Lanreal estate executive Van Thinh Phataccused of fraud Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) more than a decade.

LOOK: Vietnam prosecutor seeks death penalty against businesswoman for $12.5 billion fraud

“The actions of the accused (…) eroded the people’s confidence in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and the State,” indicated the jury’s decision, reported by the state press.

Lan was one of 86 defendants in the caseincluding former central bank heads, former government officials and former SBC executives.

Truong My Lan, chairman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings, during his trial at the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 11, 2024. (EFE/EPA/STRINGER).

He judgment Happened for five weeks in the south Ho Chi Minh City.

Lan and the other 85 were accused of crimes ranging from bribery and abuse of power. misappropriation and violation of banking laws.

Lan supposedly embezzled 12.5 billion dollarsbut prosecutors said Thursday that Total damage caused by the scheme amounts to US$27 billion, equivalent to 6% of GDP Vietnam in 2023.

O businesswoman He denied the accusations and blamed his subordinates for what happened.

She and the rest of the defendants were arrested as part of a nationwide campaign against corruption.

In his closing statement to the court last week, he suggested he had considered suicide. “In my despair I thought about death” Lan stated, according to state press.

“I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this cutthroat business environment, the banking sector, which I have little knowledge of,” she added.

Source: Elcomercio