Zero Tolerance

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A Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death on Thursday for her role in a fraud case that has caused damages worth $27 billion, a sentence almost unheard of for graft convictions, CBS News reported.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City found Truong My Lan, chair of property developer Van Thinh Phat, guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) between 2012 and 2022, and said her actions “eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and state.”

After a five-week trial, the court established that Lan had embezzled $12.5 billion. Lan stole the money through fake loan applications with the SCB, a bank in which she owned a 90-percent stake.

As a result, the SCB’s bondholders were unable to withdraw their money or receive interest. The judges said the total damages amounted to $27 billion – equal to six percent of Vietnam’s 2023 gross domestic product.

To cover up her crimes at the SCB, Lan also gave $5.2 million to state bank officials, considered the largest-ever bribe in Vietnam.

The jurors rejected all defense arguments by Lan, who has denied all the charges and blames her subordinates.

“I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment – the banking sector – which I have little knowledge of,” she said.

Lan was taken into custody in October 2022 as part of a national crackdown on corruption that also targeted officials and high-profile businesspeople. Hundreds of people protested after her arrest in Ho Chi Minh City and the capital Hanoi – demonstrations are rare in the repressive one-party Communist state.

The severity of Lan’s sentence, too, is rare in graft cases. Analysts believe it’s due to the government’s crackdown and the number of victims, approximately 42,000 individuals.