Vietnamese Property Tycoon sentenced to deathin the country’s biggest financial fraud case ever
A 67-year-old Vietnamese property tycoon named Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday after a judiciary panel found her guilty of embezzling over $27 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) for over a decade, marking the country’s biggest financial fraud case ever.
Troung My Lan is the chairwoman of real estate firm Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group and has been accused of syphoning assets from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) by taking out unlawful loans for Van Thinh Phat and other shell companies.
State Media VnExpress reports that Lan was involved in a merger between Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), Tin Nghia Bank (TNB), and Ficombank (FCB) in December 2011, allowing her direct access to the bank’s financial operations.
Although Lan’s lawyers argued that she only controlled about 15% of the bank and also did not have an official position in the financial institution, several other high-profile individuals were indicted in the case, including Do Thi Nhan (the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team) and the former CEO of SCB, Vo Tan Van, who stated most of the instructions came from Lan herself. Do Thi Nhan also stated that she was given a bribe of $5.2 million Vietnamese dong in Styrofoam boxes by Vo Tan Van to cover Lan’s money embezzlement tracks.
As a result, the judicial panel, consisting of three hand-picked jurors and two judges, rejected Lan’s defence arguments and sentenced her to death on charges of embezzlement and 20 years in prison for her other accusations of bribery of government officials and violating banking rules.
VnExpress quoted the court’s death penalty judgement stating, “Troung My Lan’s actions not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organisations 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.”
Although the death penalty in financial cases is rare in Vietnam, the massive scale of the fraud forced the judges to bestow such a severe decision on Lan, state media outlet Thang Nien reported.
Cosmetics seller to Vietnam’s renowned real estate tycoon
Founded in 1992, the Van Thinh Phat company was established by Troung My Lan and her family when Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favour of a more market-oriented approach that was open to foreigners. Lan started by helping her mother sell cosmetics in the oldest market in Ho Chi Minh City.
Over time, however, Van Thinh Phat grew to become one of the nation’s richest real estate firms, with many world-renowned construction projects such as the 37-story Capital Place office building, the luxurious Windsor Plaza Hotel, the 39-story Times Square Saigon, and the impressive Sherwood Residence Hotel, where Lan lived prior to her arrest.
The impressive growth of the Van Thinh Phat company enabled Troung My Lan to preside in the 2011 merger of Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), Tin Nghia Bank (TNB), and Ficombank (FCB). Paving the way for her to syphon enormous amounts of money for her personal uses.
Lan is guilty of embezzling money from SCB by manipulating the overall financial control of the company between 2012 and 2022. The reports further state her use of “ghost companies,” both domestic and overseas, to take unauthorised and false loans despite knowing the amount would not be recoverable by the bank.
In addition, Lan’s husband, billionaire Eric Chu Nap-kee, from Hong Kong, was sentenced to nine years in prison, while Lan’s niece, Truong Hue Van, the chief executive of Van Thinh Phat, was also sentenced to 17 years in prison for allegedly aiding her aunt in committing the country’s biggest financial scam.
Vietnam’s anti-corruption drive, Blazing Furnace, has revealed rampant corruption in the elite class
Apart from Lan, 85 other individuals, including high-level state officials, SCB bankers, and the CEO of the company, were also arrested and subsequently sentenced as part of a national anti-corruption drive (Blazing Furnace) being conducted by the one-party nation since 2021. Official reports suggest that over 4,400 people in separate graft cases have been sentenced so far under the country’s anti-corruption crackdown.
Vietnam Police have identified over 42,000 victims affected by the scandal, with over 90% of the victims being SCB shareholders who are now unable to withdraw their hard-earned money from the bank.
The police also stated that over 1,200 properties belonging to Lan have been seized so far in a bid to recompensate SCB. The officials also stated that all Van Thinh Phat property assets will be seized until the complete amount has been recovered.
The court has also ordered Truong My Lan to reimburse $26.96 billion out of the $27 billion.
The campaign Blazing Furnace has also touched the elitist classes of Vietnam, as former Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong was forced to resign in March after investigating authorities found proof of the president’s involvement in money laundering.
Another Vietnamese luxury property tycoon named Do Anh Dung, head of the Tan Hoang Minh group, was also sentenced to eight years in prison last month after he was found guilty of scamming hundreds of thousands of investors in a $355 million bond scam.
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