A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life in a US$17-billion money laundering case had her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal on Monday after she claimed what happened was "an accident".

Property developer Truong My Lan had already lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case in which she was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and fraud amounting to US$27 billion.

The appeal court ruled there was no basis to reduce her sentence but said she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three-quarters of the stolen assets.

Four months later, an appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City ruled on Monday that a life sentence she was handed for three crimes during a second trial in October would be reduced to 30 years.

"Lan played the major role... (but) we also take into consideration the amount of money that Lan has spent on overcoming the consequences," judge Pham Cong Muoi said following discussions during the appeal about how her assets may be used to compensate victims of her crimes.

Prosecutors said she had repaid a quarter of the US$1.2 billion she defrauded from thousands of bond investors.

Lan's husband Chu Lap Co did not appeal, but the judging panel concluded that his two-year sentence should be cut by half after he paid back the US$1.2 million he was found to have laundered.

In her final words before the court last week, Lan described what happened as "an accident".

"Since being jailed, I have tried my best... to seek the best solutions to (deal with my) projects and properties," she was quoted as saying by state media.

"Please acknowledge my effort," she added.

- 'Mastermind' -

The 68-year-old was found guilty in October of laundering US$17.7 billion and illegal cross-border trafficking of US$4.5 billion.

She was also found guilty of bond fraud.

The court determined during the trial that Lan was "the mastermind, committed the crime with sophisticated methods, many times, causing especially serious consequences".

During her first trial in April 2024, Lan was found guilty of embezzling US$12.5 billion but prosecutors said the damages caused by the scam totalled US$27 billion -- equivalent to around six percent of Vietnam's 2023 GDP.

Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper but the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff.

Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, prompting rare protests in the communist nation.

(AFP)

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Vietnam tycoon's jail term cut to 30 years in $17bn money laundering case