Real estate billionaire Truong My Lan was sentenced to death in the largest economic crime trial in Vietnam’s history.
Vietnamese chairman of the board of real estate development company Van Thinh Phat Truong My Lan67, was sentenced to death on Thursday.
Lan was one of 86 defendants convicted of embezzling $12.5 billion, or about €11.6 billion, from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).
The sentences received by the other defendants ranged from three years’ suspended imprisonment to life imprisonment. Four defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Reuters, AFP and the British Broadcasting Corporation report on the matter, among others BBC.
Lan’s lawyers did not immediately comment on the matter. Lan plans to appeal the verdict, a family member told Reuters before the verdict was announced.
Judgments the reading began Thursday in Ho Chi Minh after a five-week trial. The list of accused includes former central bankers, former government officials and former directors of SCB. They are accused of, among other things, bribery, abuse of power, embezzlement and violation of the Banking Act.
One of the accused is the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team By Thi Nhanwho is accused of taking a bribe worth 5.2 million dollars, or about 4.8 million euros.
Lan embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said Thursday that the total losses from the fraud were now $27 billion, or about 25 billion euros, or six percent of the country’s 2023 GDP. The court ordered Lani to pay almost the entire amount back.
Death sentence received Truong My Lan was accused of preparing fake loan applications. According to the charges, he took out a loan of 44 billion dollars, or about 41 billion euros, from SCB with fake applications.
“The defendant’s actions –– undermined people’s trust in the leadership of the (communist) party and the state,” the judgment concluded.
One of the defendants was Lan’s spouse, a Hong Kong businessman Eric Chu Nap-kee. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The death sentence is an exceptionally harsh punishment for embezzlement. According to the prosecutors, Lan committed the crimes between 2012 and 2022.
When taking out the loans, Lan owned 90 percent of SCB.
Lan and the other 85 defendants were arrested in October 2022 as part of Vietnam’s national anti-corruption program, which has led to several convictions of officials and members of the business community in recent years.
After the arrests, hundreds of people took part in demonstrations in the country’s capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The police had prepared for demonstrations outside the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi on Wednesday as well.
Lan told the court last week that the process has caused him to have suicidal thoughts.
“I was so desperate that I thought about dying. I am angry that I got involved in the banking sector. It’s a harsh business environment that I don’t know much about,” Lan said, according to local media.
Vietnam the largest financial fraud trial in history was exceptionally open and public, says the BBC. 2,700 witnesses were heard in the case. The case was handled by ten prosecutors and about 200 lawyers.
Virtually all the approximately 42,000 holders of SCB’s bonds are victims of fraud rings. According to the police, they have not been able to withdraw their money and have not received interest or principal on their money since Lan was arrested.
Correction on April 11, 2024 at 1:17 p.m. The amount of economic damage caused by Lan is about six percent of Vietnam’s GDP in 2023. Earlier in the news, it was erroneously written that the value of the entire asset of more than 40 billion euros was equivalent to about three percent of Vietnam’s GDP in 2022.