Vietnam sentences billionaire to death for $44 billion fraud

It was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, worthy of note one of the largest bank frauds the world has ever seen.

Behind the majestic yellow portico of Ho Chi Minh City’s colonial-era courthouse, 67-year-old Vietnamese real estate entrepreneur sentenced to death on Thursday looting one of the largest banks in the country over a period of 11 years.

It is a rare sentence: she is one of the few women in Vietnam sentenced to death a white collar crime.

The decision reflects the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan convicted of borrowing $44 billion (£35 billion) Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires his return 27 billion dollarsa sum which, according to the prosecutors, perhaps never recover. Some believe the death penalty is the court’s way of trying to encourage her to repay some of the missing billions.

The communist authorities, usually reservedthey have been unusually frank about this case, going into great detail for the media. They said it 2,700 people were called to testifywhile 10 prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.

The crime

lan Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank illegally controlled between 2012 and 2022 to allow the resulting 2,500 loans losses of 27 billion dollars for the bank, state media VnExpress reported.

Despite the mitigating circumstances (this was a first offense and Lan was involved in charitable activities), the court attributed his harsh sentence to the seriousness of the case, stating that Lan was the head of an orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that had serious consequences without the possibility of recovering the moneyVnExpress said.

Their actions “not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organizations, but also push the SCB (Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank) into special control status; eroding people’s trust in the leadership of the Party and the State,” VnExpress quoted the ruling.