From market stall to billionaire: Vietnam's biggest fraud case!
In a court ruling in Vietnam, real estate tycoon Truong My Lan has been sentenced to death for orchestrating the country's largest recorded fraud case, involving 304 trillion dong ($12.46 billion). During the trial, Lan stated that she had previously helped her mother as a cosmetics trader in a market.
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Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of the Vietnam-based real estate company Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, has been found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violating banking regulations. Lan was sentenced to death at the conclusion of the trial held in Ho Chi Minh City.
The crime committed by real estate queen Truong My Lan constitutes the largest financial fraud in the country's history, valued at $12.5 billion. This figure alone accounts for 3 percent of Vietnam's GDP.
THE SIZE OF THE LOAN TAKEN IS $44 BILLION
The total amount of loans 67-year-old Truong My Lan took from Saigon Commercial Bank is $44 billion.
Lan's trial, which began on March 5 and concluded early, is widely seen as one of the outcomes of the anti-corruption campaign that ruling Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong has vowed to root out for years.
Authorities stated that 2,700 people were called to testify as part of the case, and 10 state prosecutors and nearly 200 lawyers worked on the trial.
"WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT"
Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, a family member said, "We will continue to fight to see what we can do."
One of Lan's lawyers, Nguyen Huy Thiep, said that Lan did not accept the charges brought against her.
Thiep stated, "Of course, we will appeal the verdict," noting that Lan was sentenced to death for embezzlement and 20 years each for bribery and violating banking regulations.
"ERODES PUBLIC TRUST IN STATE LEADERSHIP"
According to the state newspaper VnExpress, the jury stated, "The defendant's actions not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organizations but also put the SCB under scrutiny, eroding people's trust in the leadership of the Party and the State."
Human rights groups say that hundreds of convicts have been executed in recent years, mostly by lethal injection.
SHE USED TO HELP HER MOTHER AT THE MARKET
The Thanh Nien newspaper reported that the 84 defendants in the case received sentences ranging from three years of probation to life imprisonment. Among them are Lan's Hong Kong businessman husband, Eric Chu, who received a nine-year prison sentence, and her niece, who was sentenced to 17 years.
During the trial, Lan told the judges that she began her business life by helping her mother as a cosmetics trader at a central market in Ho Chi Minh City.