In refusing a surprise appeal over a staggering $12-billion embezzlement case, a court in Vietnam has upheld a Vietnamese real estate tycoon named Truong My Lan to death. On Tuesday, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City delivered the ruling amidst saying that the case has posed a big economic consequence in the country.
Local media reported that the court found no grounds to reduce Lan’s sentence, although it indicated that her punishment could be commuted to life imprisonment if she repaid three-quarters of the embezzled funds. The prosecution described the case as unprecedented, noting that the scale of the financial fraud and its repercussions on society and the economy were extraordinary.
Lan, chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was convicted in April for orchestrating Vietnam’s largest financial fraud case, to the tune of nearly 3 percent of the country’s 2022 gross domestic product (GDP). She was convicted of illegally controlling the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). Her arrest in 2022 caused a run on SCB, one of Vietnam’s biggest private banks, and authorities have identified around 36,000 people as victims of the scam, which has also sparked rare protests in the country.
While Lan’s lawyer cited mitigating circumstances such as her admission of guilt and partial repayment of the embezzled amount, prosecutors deemed these factors insufficient. Lan retains the right to request a review under Vietnam’s cassation or retrial procedures.
At 68 years old, Lan is one of the most high-profile figures caught up in Vietnam’s far-reaching anti-corruption drive, nicknamed “Blazing Furnace,” which has heated up since 2022 and ensnared scores of business executives, government officials, and members of the police and armed forces.
