$12.5 Billion Death Penalty!
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Apr 11 (EFE).-
Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday after she was found guilty of misappropriating $12.5 billion through bank deposits, Vietnam’s state media reported.
Judges at a court in Ho Chi Minh gave the 67-year-old the death penalty after finding her guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violating banking regulations.
According to the investigation, Lan used front men and employees to control 91% of Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and then siphoned off vast sums of money to shell companies between 2012 and 2022. The SCB is the country’s largest bank by assets.
The case is one of the biggest frauds in the country and in Asia. The $12.5 billion she stole equated to 3% of Vietnam’s GDP in 2022.
The prosecution alleges that Lan, arrested in 2022, held no position at the bank and owned only 4% of the shares, but controlled up to 91% of the shares through “trusted people in important positions” at the bank, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
The fraud case comes amid an intensifying anti-corruption campaign in recent years by Vietnamese authorities, which has taken down high-ranking political and business officials. EFE
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