Written by by Lam Nguyen at scmp.com
- Truong My Lan, 67, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and banking regulation violations for orchestrating a massive fraud using hundreds of ghost companies
- Lan’s actions pushed the Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank into a state of ‘special control’ and eroded the public’s trust in the state, the court says
Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday after a court found her guilty of embezzlement, bribery and banking regulation violations in a fraud trial which saw her accused of plundering over US$12.5 billion from a bank using hundreds of ghost companies.
In a five-week trial in Ho Chi Minh City which has gripped Vietnam, Lan, 67, alongside dozens of others, was accused of orchestrating a massive fraud at the Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB), which drained the savings and investments of tens of thousands of people.