Truong Mei Lan was convicted of the biggest fraud in the history of the communist country. More than 80 other people were prosecuted in the case, including her husband and niece, who were sentenced to prison terms.
Lan played a key role in Vietnam's financial world, and was involved in the previous bailout of the commercial bank that happened more than a decade before her arrest. She was found guilty of bribing officials to persuade the bank to turn a blind eye to a $5.2 billion central authorities turn a $2.5 billion blind eye, including paying a senior supervisor $1.2 million. The crackdown on corruption in Vietnam, which is nicknamed the "Burning Furnace", resulted in the resignation of hundreds of government officials and senior businessmen, according to the U.N. Corruption in Vietnam is so widespread that in some provinces people say they pay just to receive medical services in public hospitals in order to receive free medical care, a survey by the United Nations Development Program and other organizations said.