Real estate tycoon Truong Mai Lan was sentenced to death in Vietnam

Content of the article

HANOI, Vietnam – Real estate tycoon Truong Mai Lan was sentenced to death by a court in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday in the country's biggest financial fraud case, state media Vietnam Net reported.

The 67-year-old chairman of the Van Thinh Phat real estate company has been formally charged with fraud involving $12.5 billion, which is about 3% of the country's 2022 GDP.

Content of the article

Content of the article

Between 2012 and 2022, Lan illegally ran Saigon Joint-Stock Commercial Bank and authorized 2,500 loans that cost the bank $27 billion, according to state media VnExpress. The court asked him to repay the bank $26.9 million.

Despite the mitigating circumstances – it was a first-time offense and Lan was involved in charity events – the court attributed its harsh sentence to the seriousness of the case, saying that Lan was at the helm of an organized and sophisticated criminal enterprise that did not lead to serious consequences. possibility of refund, VnExpress reported.

His actions “not only violate the right of individuals and organizations to manage property, but also push SCB (Saigon Joint-Stock Commercial Bank) into a special state of control; weakens people's trust in the leadership of the party and the state,” VnExpress quotes from the court decision.

Her nephew, Truong Hieu Van, chief executive of Van Thinh Phat, was sentenced to 17 years for helping his sister.

Lan and his family founded Van Thing Phat in 1992 after advocating a market-oriented approach open to foreigners after Vietnam lost its state economy. She began helping her Chinese businesswoman mother sell cosmetics at the oldest market in Ho Chi Minh City, according to state media Tien Phong.

Content of the article

Content of the article

Van Thinh Phat would become one of Vietnam's richest real estate firms, including luxury residences, offices, hotels and shopping malls. This made it a major player in the country's financial industry. He orchestrated the 2011 merger of beleaguered SCB with two other lenders in coordination with Vietnam's central bank.

The court found that he used this method to use SCB to obtain cash. He indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank — which he denied charges — and approved thousands of loans to “ghost companies,” according to government documents. Later, these loans were returned to him, VNExpress state media reported with reference to court findings.

He then bribed officials to cover his tracks, he added.

Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.

Lan's arrest in October 2022 was one of the most significant events in Vietnam's growing anti-corruption crackdown since 2022. The so-called “Living Furnace” campaign touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics. Former president Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after campaigning.

Content of the article

But Lan's trial shocked the country. Analysts say the scale of the fraud has worsened Vietnam's economic outlook and raised questions about whether other banks or businesses have made mistakes as Vietnam tries to position itself as an ideal home for businesses seeking to transform supply. Distance from China.

Vietnam's real estate sector has been particularly hard hit. About 1,300 real estate firms have exited the market in 2023, developers are offering discounts and gold as prizes to lure buyers, and despite rents for shops in Ho Chi Minh City dropping by a third, many houses in the city center are still empty. to state media.

In November, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, said that the fight against corruption “will continue in the long term.”

Content of the article