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Vietnam Seeks Death Penalty for Woman Behind US$30 Billion Bank Fraud
Prosecutors in Vietnam have called for the death penalty to be handed to Ms Truong My Lan, the mastermind of the Southeast Asian nation’s largest financial fraud on record, state media said.
Truong My Lan, the chairperson of real estate developer of Vietnam’s Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, is on trial in the economic powerhouse of Ho Chi Minh City on charges of directing a scheme that generated $30 billion in losses, or approximately 4.9 percent of Vietnam’s GDP.
The trial, which is set to last until the end of April, is part of a drive against corruption that the ruling Communist Party’s leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, has promised to stop for years, but has yielded few real achievements.
“Lan didn’t plead guilty or show remorse,” the Thanh Nien newspaper quoted prosecutors as saying, while demanding the death punishment for embezzlement.
“The consequences are extremely serious and irreparable and therefore, there must be a strict punishment for Truong My Lan and remove her from the society.” Ms Lan’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Investigators say Ms Lan and her associates stole over 304 trillion dong ($18.8 billion) from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies.
Prosecutors have also charged the group of creating additional damages totaling 193 trillion dong ($11.9 billion), more than 129 trillion dong ($7.9 billion) of which is due to accrued interest on loans they received.
The overall financial damages in the case were 498 trillion dong, or $30 billion, according to the report.
Investigators claim that between early 2018 and October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits, Ms Lan stole huge sums by arranging illegal loans to shell firms.
Investigators claim she bribed officials to disregard her activities, including paying an alleged $7.9 million to a senior central bank inspector.
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