Death for Vietnamese tycoon in US$12b fraud case

A Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death yesterday in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion (HK$211 billion) in damages.

In Ho Chi Minh City, a panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments from Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank for over a decade.

"The defendant's actions eroded people's trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state," read the verdict.

After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to appropriation and violations of banking law. Four were given life imprisonment, while the others received jail terms ranging from 20 years to three years suspended.

Lan's husband, Hong Kong billionaire Eric Chu Nap-kee, was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Lan embezzled US$12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to US$27 billion - a figure equivalent to six percent of the country's 2023 GDP.

The court ordered Lan, 67, to pay almost the entire damages sum in compensation.

The death sentence is an unusually severe punishment in such a case, although the country is a leading executioner globally, according to Amnesty International.

Lan and the others were arrested as part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam's business elite in recent years.

Police have identified around 42,000 victims of the scandal.

Lan was accused of setting up fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB, in which she owned a 90 percent stake.

Police say the scam's victims are all SCB bondholders who cannot withdraw their money and have not received interest or principal payments since Lan's arrest. Prosecutors said during the trial they had seized more than 1,000 properties belonging to her.

Authorities have also said the US$5.2 million allegedly given by Lan and some SCB bankers to state officials to conceal the bank's violations and poor financial situation was the largest bribe ever in Vietnam.

Do Thi Nhan, the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam's inspection team, was sentenced to life in prison for receiving bribes.

More than 4,400 people have been indicted during Vietnam's corruption crackdown since 2021.

Luxury property tycoon Do Anh Dung, head of the Tan Hoang Minh group, was sentenced to eight years in prison last month after he was found guilty in a US$355 million bond scam.