A top Vietnamese property mogul was sentenced to death on Thursday in one of history’s biggest corruption cases, with an estimated $27 billion in damages. Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade, had all of his defense arguments dismissed by a panel of three handpicked jurors and two judges.
“The defendant’s actions… eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and state,” said the ruling during the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. Lan disputed the claims, blaming her subordinates.
The total damages from the crime amounted to $27 billion, or 6% of the country’s GDP in 2023
Following a five-week trial in Ho Chi Minh City, 85 others await judgments and sentences on allegations ranging from bribery and abuse of power to appropriation and violations of banking law.
Lan embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors stated Thursday that the total damages from the crime amounted to $27 billion, or 6% of the country’s GDP in 2023.
The death penalty is an extraordinarily harsh punishment in such a case.
Lan and the others were arrested as part of a national corruption campaign that has targeted many officials and members of Vietnam’s corporate elite in recent years.
Police have identified approximately 42,000 victims in the scam
Lan appeared to admit to having suicidal thoughts during her final court appearance last week.
“In my desperation, I thought of death,” she said, according to state media.
“I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment — the banking sector — which I have little knowledge of.”
Following Lan’s arrest in October 2022, hundreds of people began to protest in the capital Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City, which is a relatively rare occurrence in the one-party communist regime.
Police have identified approximately 42,000 victims in the scam, which has shocked the Southeast Asian country.
Lan, who is married to a wealthy Hong Kong businessman who is also on trial, was accused of creating bogus loan applications in order to transfer funds from SCB, in which she owns a 90% share.
Police said the scam’s victims are all SCB bondholders who are unable to withdraw their funds and have not received interest or principal payments since Lan’s arrest.
During the trial, prosecutors stated that they had taken over 1,000 of Lan’s properties.
$5.2 million allegedly paid by Truong My Lan to state authorities is the highest bribe ever recorded in Vietnam
Authorities have also stated that the $5.2 million allegedly paid by Lan and certain SCB bankers to state authorities to conceal the bank’s violations and poor financial situation is the highest bribe ever recorded in Vietnam.
The lady who was offered the bribe, Do Thi Nhan, the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team, said during the trial that the cash was presented to her in Styrofoam boxes by SCB’s former CEO, Vo Tan Van.
Nhan refused the boxes after discovering they contained money, but Van declined to take them back, according to a media report.
Since 2021, more than 4,400 people have been indicted in Vietnam’s corruption investigation, with over 1,700 graft cases.
A top Vietnamese luxury property tycoon, Do Anh Dung, the head of the Tan Hoang Minh group, was sentenced to eight years in prison last month after being convicted of defrauding thousands of investors in a $355 million bond scam.