>
> <http://apnews.com>
>Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its
>largest-ever fraud case
>By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
>
>April 11, 2024
>
>HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced
>Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in
>the country's largest financial fraud case ever, state media Vietnam Net
>said.
>
>The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was
>formally charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion - nearly 3% of
the
>country's 2022 GDP.
>
>Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012
>and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion
to
>the bank, reported state media VnExpress. The court asked her to
>compensate the bank $26.9 million.
>
>Despite mitigating circumstances - this was a first-time offense and Lan
>participated in charity activities - the court attributed its harsh
>sentence to the seriousness of the case, saying Lan was at the helm of
an
>orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that had serious
>consequences with no possibility of the money being recovered, VnExpress
>said.
>
>Her actions "not only violate the property management rights of
>individuals and organizations but also push SCB (Saigon Joint Stock
>Commercial Bank) into a state of special control; eroding people's trust
>in the leadership of the Party and State," VnExpress quoted the
judgement
>as saying.
>
>Her niece, Truong Hue Van, the chief executive of Van Thinh Phat, was
>sentenced to 17 years in prison for aiding her aunt.
>
>Lan and her family established the Van Thing Phat company in 1992 after
>Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favor of a more market-oriented
>approach that was open to foreigners. She had started out helping her
>mother, a Chinese businesswoman, to sell cosmetics in Ho Chi Minh City's
>oldest market, according to state media Tien Phong.
>
>Van Thinh Phat would grow to become one of Vietnam's richest real estate
>firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices,
>hotels and shopping centers. This made her a key player in the country's
>financial industry. She orchestrated the 2011 merger of the beleaguered
>SCB bank with two other lenders in coordination with Vietnam's central
>bank.
>
>The court found that she used this approach to tap SCB for cash. She
>indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank - a charge she denied - and
>approved thousands of loans to "ghost companies," according to
government
>documents. These loans then found their way back to her, state media
>VNExpress reported, citing the court's findings.
>
>She then bribed officials to cover her tracks, it added.
>
>Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced Thursday to
>life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.
>
>Lan's arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an
ongoing
>anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022. The
>so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of
>Vietnamese politics. Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March
>after being implicated in the campaign.
>
>But Lan's trial shocked the nation. Analysts said the scale of the scam
>raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly
>erred, dampening Vietnam's economic outlook and making foreign investors
>jittery at a time when Vietnam has been trying to position itself as the
>ideal home for businesses trying to pivot their supply chains away from
>China.
>
>The real estate sector in Vietnam has been hit particularly hard. An
>estimated 1,300 property firms withdrew from the market in 2023,
>developers have been offering discounts and gold as gifts to attract
>buyers, and despite rents for mixed-use properties known in Southeast
Asia
>as shop houses falling by a third in Ho Chi Minh City, many in the city
>center are still empty, according to state media.
>
>In November, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong,
Vietnam's
>top politician, said that the anti-corruption fight would "continue for
>the long term."

This is what Trump deserves.