On Thursday, Truong My Lan the Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death for being involved in the country’s biggest money fraud case, said state media outlet Thanh Nien.
Lan did bad things like stealing money, giving bribes, and breaking banking rules about lending. She got the death sentence for stealing money and 20 years in jail for each of the other two bad things, according to what state media said.
Lan is the boss of a company that builds houses called Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group. She was said to have taken money from a bank called Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank by getting illegal loans for her company and other fake companies.
Her defense was mostly about saying she didn’t control much of the bank and wasn’t officially in charge there, so she shouldn’t be accused of stealing. But some people who had big parts of the bank said they were working for Lan.
So, the judges decided Lan was even in charge of most of the bank through other people and was like the real owner, local media said.
The loans were approximately worth about $44 billion and made up most of the money the bank lent between 2012 and 2022.
About $12.3 billion of that money was said to go to Lan’s company, while some were used secretly. Lan paid back some loans, but the court said she still owes the bank all the money.
According to state media, Lan got arrested first in 2022, but the things she was accused of happened about 10 years ago. Lan, bank officials, and more than 80 other people were charged for hurting the bank.
Reuters reported on Thursday, that a family member said Lan would try to change the court’s decision,
The case has now become a big part of the corruption happening in Vietnam. The government is pushing to stop corruption, and because of it, big politicians along with business people have had to quit. Hundreds of people have been punished because of this fight.
