Foreign

Vietnamese Woman Sentenced To Death Over $44bn Bank Fraud

A Vietnamese billionaire, Truong My Lan, has been sentenced to death for looting one of the country’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.

It was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen.

Truong My Lan was sentenced at the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City.

The 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday is one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.

According to BBC, the decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud.

Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44 billion (£35 billion) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank.

The verdict requires her to return $27 billion, a sum prosecutors said may never be retrieved. Some believe the death penalty is the court’s way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions.

Sponsored

The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media.

BBC reported that about 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.

The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes, while saying 85 defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges.

“There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” said David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”

The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong.

SPONSORED
Alex Enemanna

A print journalist with vast knowledge of political developments in Nigeria. Passionate about equity and fairness through robust developmental journalism.

Recent Posts

Tinubu’s Economic Reforms Not Responsible For Hunger, Stampede — FG

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has warned politicians against linking stampedes…

6 hours ago

Ohafia Community In Mourning As Trailer Crushes Many Christmas Travelers To Death (Photos, Video)

Ohafia, Abia State, was plunged into mourning on Sunday following a tragic accident involving a…

6 hours ago

After 25 Years, Democracy Yet To Meet Citizen’s Expectations — Bugaje

An Islamic scholar and political activist, Dr. Usman Bugaje, has highlighted the inability of the…

12 hours ago

Tinubu’s 2025 Budget Full Of Unrealistic Expectations, Says SDP’s Adebayo

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general elections, Prince…

14 hours ago

VP Shettima Saddened Over Stampedes That Killed Dozens Of People, Says It’s National Tragedy

Vice President Kashim Shettima has mourned the victims of the recent tragic stampedes that claimed…

14 hours ago

Yuletide: NACA Urges Nigerians To prioritize Their Health, Know Their HIV Status

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS has advised Nigerians to prioritize their health…

16 hours ago