A leading Vietnamese property mogul may face the death penalty when she and scores of other co-accused are sentenced on Thursday in one of the country’s largest fraud cases involving the misappropriation of $12.5 billion.
Truong My Lan, the chairman of major developer Van Thinh Phat, is accused of defrauding Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) for more than ten years.
Following a five-week trial, she and 85 others await judgments and imprisonment in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern business powerhouse. Former central bankers, government officials, and SCB executives are among those implicated.
They are charged with bribery, misuse of power, appropriation, and banking law crimes.
Lan has disputed the claims, blaming subordinates.
Prosecutors have urged for Lan to be sentenced to death, which is an extraordinarily harsh punishment in this case.
She and the other 85 people were arrested as part of a nationwide corruption campaign that has targeted numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s corporate elite in recent years.
Lan appeared to admit to having suicidal thoughts during her final court appearance last week. “In my desperation, I thought of death,” she stated, according to official media.
“I am really angry that I was naive enough to get involved in this very tough economic climate — the banking sector.
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