VIETNAM—Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in the country’s largest financial fraud case on Thursday, state media outlet Vietnam Net said.
According to an APNews report, the 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was formally charged with fraud to the tune of $12.5 billion—nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP.
Portions of the judgment as quoted by State media VnExpress said Lan’s actions “not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organisations but also push SCB (Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank) into a state of special control; eroding people’s trust in the leadership of the Party and State.”
VnExpress had previously reported that Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion to the bank. The court asked her to compensate the bank with $26.9 million.
Although this is her first offence and charity activities, the court attributed its harsh sentence to “the seriousness of the case, saying Lan was at the helm of an orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that had serious consequences with no possibility of the money being recovered,” VnExpress said.
Meanwhile, Lan’s niece, Truong Hue Van, who served as CEO of the real estate company, was handed 17 years of imprisonment for “aiding her aunt,” and Lan’s husband, Eric Chu Nap-kee, was jailed for nine years.
About the company
As APNews reported, Lan and her family established the Van Thing Phat company in 1992 after Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favour of a more market-oriented approach that was open to foreigners.
She started out helping her mother, a Chinese entrepreneur, sell cosmetics in Ho Chi Minh City’s oldest market, according to state media Tien Phong.
Van Thinh Phat would grow to become one of Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers.
This made her a key player in the country’s financial industry. She orchestrated the 2011 merger of the beleaguered SCB bank with two other lenders in coordination with Vietnam’s central bank, APNews said.
The court found that she used this approach to tap SCB for cash. She indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank—a charge she denied—and approved thousands of loans to “ghost companies,” according to government documents.
These loans then found their way back to her, state media VnExpress reported, citing the court’s findings.
She then bribed officials to cover her tracks, it added.
Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced Thursday to life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.
Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022.
The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics. Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after being implicated in the campaign.