A real estate company was accused of orchestrating the largest financial fraud ever recorded in Vietnam. At the end of a month-long trial, 85 people were convicted, first and foremost the founder of this company, Truong My Lan, sentenced to death.
This is the largest financial fraud ever recorded in Vietnam. However, Hanoi’s financial fraud legislation is among the strictest in the world. The fate reserved for Truong My Lan therefore does not surprise the local population, although it is shocking from a Western point of view. This Vietnamese real estate mogul was sentenced to death for embezzling $12.46 billion, as told CNN And Authors.
Originally from Ho Chi Minh, Truong My Lan founded a real estate company in 1992, Van Thinh Phat. And it is this company that is accused of having siphoned off more than 304,000 billion dong (or $12.46 billion) from Vietnam’s largest private lender, the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), via dozens of illegal loans taken out by shell companies.
Loans which were to be used to finance real estate projects which ultimately never saw the light of day and which put the SCB in financial embarrassment.
His 84 co-defendants sentenced
To obtain these loans, Truong My Lan was also found guilty of using bribery. The billionaire would, in fact, have bribed civil servants to persuade the authorities to “look the other way” on the actions of her company and the SCB. In particular, she allegedly paid $5.2 million to a principal inspector of the central bank, Do Thi Nhan – who was sentenced to life in prison during the same trial.
The leader of Van Thinh Phat pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against her, but considered “the mastermind” of this vast fraud, she was still sentenced to death for “embezzlement”, at 20 years old. prison for “corruption” and also 20 years in prison for “violations of banking rules”. “Of course, she will appeal the verdict,” her lawyer assured Reuters.
In his wake, his 84 co-defendants were sentenced to sentences ranging from three years of probation to life in prison. Among them are Truong My Lan’s husband, Eric Chu, a Hong Kong businessman, who was sentenced to nine years in prison, and her niece who was sentenced to 17 years.
A country plagued by corruption
Corruption is a real scourge in Vietnam. Many people report paying bribes simply to obtain medical services at public hospitals. An evil that the leader of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, has been committed to eradicating for years, practicing zero tolerance in the matter. Thus, Vietnam imposes the death penalty mainly for violent crimes, but also for economic crimes.
