The Billionaire Facing Death Penalty In Vietnam’s “Biggest Fraud”

NDTV:

A top Vietnamese property tycoon could face the death penalty when she and dozens of other co-accused face verdicts on Thursday in one of the country’s biggest fraud cases over the embezzlement of $12.5 billion.

Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, is accused of swindling the cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade.

She and 85 others face verdicts and sentencing in southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City following a five-week trial. The list of co-accused includes former central bankers, ex-government officials and previous SCB executives.

The charges they face include bribery, abuse of power, appropriation and violations of banking law.

Lan has denied the charges and blamed subordinates.

Prosecutors have called for Lan to face the death sentence, an unusually severe punishment in such a case.

She and the 85 others were arrested as part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up many officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite in recent years.

Lan appeared to say in final remarks to the court last week that she had thoughts of suicide.

“In my desperation, I thought of death,” she said, according to state media.

“I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment — the banking sector — which I have little knowledge of.”