A Vietnamese tycoon, Truong My Lan, has been sentenced to death for her participation in the country's greatest financial fraud case, worth Ksh.1.6 trillion.
According to court records, between 2012 and 2022, the 67-year-old unlawfully managed the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), siphoning cash through thousands of fake firms and paying bribes to government officials.
According to official media sources, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group was found guilty of theft, bribery, and breach of banking rules during a trial in Vietnam's commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City.
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The trial, which began on March 5 and finished faster than planned, was part of a fight against corruption that Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of Vietnam's governing Communist Party, has pledged to destroy for years but has achieved minor real achievement.
Lan had disputed the claims against her and instead blamed subordinates. In her closing words to the court last week, she stated that she had considered suicide.
“In my desperation, I thought of death,” she said, according to state media. “I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment – the banking sector – which I have little knowledge of.”
Following a series of significant corporate arrests, Vietnamese equities fell by $40 billion at one point in 2022, undermining investor confidence at a vital juncture for the fast-growing economy.
Investigators say Lan took enormous quantities of money by making illicit loans to shell businesses between early 2018 and October 2022, when the state rescued SCB after a run on its deposits.
