A Vietnamese court has sentenced real estate billionaire Truong My Lan to death for her role in the country’s worst financial fraud case, totaling 304 trillion dong ($A19.10 billion), or nearly $12.5 billion.
Her trial, which began on March 5 and ended quicker than expected, was the spectacular outcome of a battle against corruption that the ruling Communist Party’s head, Nguyen Phu Trong, has promised to eradicate for years.
Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules at the end of a trial in the business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, state media said.
Lan and her accomplices were accused of siphoning off more than 304 trillion dong from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies, according to investigators.
Lan appropriated substantial sums by making illegal loans to shell businesses between early 2018 and October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB following a run on its reserves, according to investigators.
Hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile corporate leaders have been prosecuted or forced to resign as part of Vietnam’s “Blazing Furnace” anti-graft campaign.
Following a succession of major corporate arrests in 2022, Vietnamese equities lost $US40 billion ($A61 billion), shaking investor confidence at a critical time for the fast-growing economy.
