Vietnamese real estate magnate Truong My Lan has lost her appeal against her death sentence for masterminding the world’s largest bank fraud.
The 68-year-old woman is now fighting for her life as the law in Vietnam states that if she can return 75% of what she took, her sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment.
In April, the lower court found that Truong My Lan had secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), the country’s fifth-largest lender, and had obtained loans and cash for more than 10 years through a network of companies. ghost, for a total of US$44,000 million.
Prosecutors say that of that amount, $27 billion was diverted and $12 billion was embezzled, the most serious financial crime in the country for which she was sentenced to death.
It was a rare and shocking verdict: She is one of the few women in Vietnam sentenced to death for a white-collar crime.
On Tuesday, the top court said there was no basis to reduce Truong My Lan’s death sentence.
However, he could still avoid execution if he returns $9 billion, three-quarters of the $12 billion he embezzled.
It is not his last appeal and he can still ask the President for an amnesty.
During her trial Truong My Lan was defiant at times, but in the recent hearings of her appeal against the sentence she seemed more remorseful.
She declared that she was ashamed of having been a burden on the State and that his only thought was to return what he had stolen.
Born into a Chinese-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, Truong My Lan began as a vendor at a market stall selling cosmetics with her mother.
He began buying land and property after the Communist Party introduced economic reform in 1986.
In the 1990s, it became the owner of a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.
When she was convicted and sentenced in April, She was the president of a major real estate company, the Van Thinh Phat Group.
It was a dramatic moment in the “Burning Furnace” anti-corruption campaign led by then Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
The remaining 85 defendants were also convicted. Four were sentenced to life in prison, while the rest – including Truong My Lan’s husband and niece – received prison sentences ranging from 20 years to three years suspended.
The State Bank of Vietnam is believed to have spent several billion dollars recapitalizing Saigon Commercial Bank to prevent a broader banking run.
Prosecutors argued that his crimes were “enormous and unprecedented” and did not warrant leniency.
Truong My Lan’s lawyers said she was struggling to find the $9 billion she needed. But selling its assets has proven difficult.
Some are luxury properties in Ho Chi Minh City that could, in theory, sell quite quickly.
Others are shares or participations in other companies or real estate projects.
In total, the State has identified more than a thousand different assets linked to fraud. The authorities have frozen them for now.
The BBC understands that The tycoon has also contacted friends to obtain loans to help you achieve your goal.
His lawyers asked the judges for leniency for financial reasons.
They indicated that While on death row, you will find it difficult to negotiate the best price to sell your assets and investments.and therefore more difficult to raise US$9 billion.
They claim that the woman could get much more money if she were sentenced to life in prison.
“The total value of his properties actually exceeds the amount of compensation required,” lawyer Nguyen Huy Thiep told the BBC before Truong My Lan’s appeal was rejected.
“However, selling them requires time and effort, since many of the assets are real estate and their liquidation takes time. Truong My Lan hopes that the court can create more favorable conditions so that she can continue paying compensation.”
Few expected the judges to be convinced by these arguments. Now, in fact, He is in a race against his executioner to raise the funds he needs.
Vietnam treats the death penalty as a state secret.
The government does not publish how many people are on death row, although human rights groups say there are more than 1,000 and that Vietnam is one of the world’s largest implementers.
There are usually long delays, often many years before sentences are carried out, although prisoners receive very little notice.
If Truong My Lan can recover the US$9 billion before that happens, his life will most likely be spared.
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