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Arab News
25-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Vietnam tycoon will not face death penalty over $27 billion fraud
HANOI: A Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion will no longer face execution, her lawyer said Wednesday, as the country abolished capital punishment for eight crimes, including property embezzlement. Property developer Truong My Lan's lawyer Giang Hong Thanh said that her death penalty 'will be converted to life imprisonment... I informed Ms. Lan this morning, she is very happy.' Vietnam on Wednesday abolished the death penalty for eight crimes including espionage, graft and attempting to overthrow the government, according to state media. Lan, 68, was convicted last year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) – which prosecutors said she controlled – and sentenced to death for fraud with damages totaling $27 billion – equivalent to around six percent of the country's GDP. She appealed the verdict in a month-long trial, but in December the court in Ho Chi Minh City determined that there was 'no basis' to reduce her sentence. But the court said Lan's sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment if she returned three quarters of the stolen assets. 'If Ms Lan compensates for three quarters of the losses along with some other conditions, she will continue to be considered for a further reduction of her sentence,' lawyer Thanh said Wednesday. Lan 'is still actively cooperating with state agencies of Vietnam and her partners to find ways to deal with (her) assets and restructure SCB to come to a final solution to the case.' Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper but courts 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. In a separate $17 billion money-laundering case, Lan had a life imprisonment sentence cut to 30 years on appeal in April. According to the amended penal code approved by the National Assembly Wednesday, the eight crimes no longer punishable by death include property embezzlement and bribe-taking. Under Vietnamese law, those sentenced to death for the eight crimes – which also include spying and anti-state activities – before July 1 will have their sentences converted to life imprisonment by the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court. Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang said 'the current structure of capital punishment was problematic and, in some cases, misaligned with evolving socio-economic conditions and the realities of crime prevention.' One of the reasons for the move given by Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh was that in most cases people sentenced to death for the above crimes were not actually executed. The number of executions has not been made public, but Amnesty International estimates more than 1,200 people were on death row in Vietnam by the end of 2024.
South China Morning Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Vietnam tycoon offers property empire to avoid death penalty in US$27 billion bank fraud
Vietnamese property tycoon trying to avoid a death sentence for multibillion-dollar fraud has promised to turn her property empire into a 'golden goose' to help pay back the assets she embezzled, her lawyer said on Tuesday. Property developer Truong My Lan lost an appeal in December against the death penalty in a case in which she was found guilty of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank 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 paid back three-quarters of the amount stolen. In a letter sent from jail to a state-controlled committee handling her properties, Lan said her assets have been significantly undervalued, causing potential losses to the state and affecting her rights, her lawyer Giang Hong Thanh said. Businesswoman Truong My Lan attends a trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in April 2024. Photo: AFP Lan said the government-appointed company that valued 726 of her assets, several of them real estate projects in prime areas of Vietnam's biggest cities, had estimated their worth at around US$9.7 billion.
CNA
13-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Vietnam death row tycoon promises to turn properties into 'golden goose'
HANOI: A Vietnamese property tycoon trying to avoid a death sentence for multi-billion-dollar fraud has promised to turn her property empire into a "golden goose" to help pay back the assets she embezzled, her lawyer said on Tuesday (May 13). Property developer Truong My Lan lost an appeal in December against the death penalty in a case in which she was found guilty 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 paid back three-quarters of the amount stolen. In a letter sent from jail to a state-controlled committee handling her properties, Lan said her assets have been significantly undervalued, causing potential losses to the state and affecting her rights, her lawyer Giang Hong Thanh told AFP. Lan said the government-appointed company that valued 726 of her assets, several of them real estate projects in prime areas of Vietnam's biggest cities, had estimated their worth at around US$9.7 billion. But Lan argued in the wake of new land price guidelines issued by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, where most of the projects are situated, their value had likely increased by 3 to 5 times. She added that if her other 440 assets were valued, the state could collect another US$7.7 billion at least. "I believe that with my 30-year experience in the real estate business and my thorough legal understanding ... I could turn most of the assets into a golden goose so that the state can recover the costs," Lan wrote in her letter, pleading for authorities to allow her involvement. Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in SCB lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims. In a second appeal trial in April this year, Lan's life sentence in a separate US$17-billion money laundering case was cut to 30 years.
