Businesswoman Truong My Lan, accused of appropriating some $12.5 billion through bank deposits in one of the largest fraud cases in Vietnam, was sentenced to the death penalty this Thursday, in the midst of an anti-corruption campaign in the country. communist.
Judges at the Ho Chin Minn court sentenced the 68-year-old defendant after finding her guilty of bribery, violating banking regulations and misappropriation in this fraud committed through a criminal network over 10 years, according to the half VN Express.
According to the investigation, Lan used front men and employees to take over 91 percent of the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and then diverted large sums of money with some 2,500 loans to shell companies between 2012 and 2022.
That of SCB, the largest bank in assets in the country, is one of the largest frauds in the country and in Asia, since the 12.5 billion dollars (about 11.5 billion euros) diverted represent 3 percent of Vietnamese GDP in 2022 and triple the fortune of the richest Vietnamese, Pham Nhat Vuong.
The Prosecutor's Office maintains that Lan, arrested in 2022, did not hold any position in the bank and only owned 4 percent of the shares, but controlled up to 91 percent of the shares through people she trusted who followed her instructions.
This case of fraud occurs within the framework of the intensification of the anti-corruption campaign launched in recent years by the Vietnamese authorities and which has affected senior political and business officials. EFE
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