Vietnamese tycoon in race to raise $9BILLION to save her own life: Fraudster faces execution after being convicted of embezzlement

A Vietnamese real estate tycoon will soon find out whether her life will be spared after being sentenced to death for a multibillion-dollar fraud.

Real estate developer Truong My Lan, 68, will await the verdict in an appeal in one of the biggest corruption cases in history.

She was convicted earlier this year of embezzling funds from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) – which prosecutors said she controlled – and sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion.

Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in SCB lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.

In her official, handwritten appeal of more than five pages, seen by AFP, Lan said the death sentence was “too harsh and harsh”, and asked the court to consider a “softer and more humane approach”.

Under Vietnamese law, Lan could escape the death penalty if she proactively returns three-quarters of the embezzled assets and is judged to have cooperated sufficiently with authorities.

This would mean she would have to raise $9 billion to save her life, but spend a lifetime behind bars.

However, prosecutors have argued that she did not comply with the conditions and emphasized that the consequences of her crime were “major and unprecedented.”

Lan was convicted earlier this year of embezzling funds from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) – which prosecutors said she controlled – and sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion.

Lan, who founded the real estate development group Van Thinh Phat, told the court in Ho Chi Minh City that “the fastest way” to repay the stolen money would be “to liquidate SCB and sell our assets to help SBV and the people to repay’.

“I feel pained by the waste of national resources,” Lan said last week, adding that she was “very ashamed to be accused of this crime.”

On paper, Lan only owned five percent of the shares in SCB, but during her trial the court concluded that she actually owned more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff.

The State Bank said in April it had pumped money into the SCB to stabilize it, without disclosing how much.

Lan and Van Thinh Phat’s assets include a shopping mall, a port and luxury residential complexes in the Ho Chi Minh City business district.

At her first trial in April, Lan was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam amounted to $27 billion – equivalent to about six percent of the country’s GDP in 2023 .

Lan and dozens of defendants, including senior central bank officials, were arrested as part of a nationwide anti-corruption crackdown dubbed the “fiery furnace” that has swept up scores of officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite.

A total of 47 other defendants have requested a reduced sentence on appeal.

Last month, Lan was convicted of money laundering in a separate case and sentenced to life in prison.