By Sophie Kiderlin -
CNBC
Vietnamese real estate magnate Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday for her involvement in the country's largest financial fraud case, state media Thanh Nien reported.
Lan was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violating bank lending regulations. She was sentenced to death on the embezzlement charges and 20 years in prison on each of the other two charges, according to state media.
Lan, chairwoman of real estate company Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was accused of appropriating assets from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) by
providing illegal loans
to Van Thinh Phat and shell companies.
Much of Lan's defense rested on her lawyers' argument that she only controlled about 15% of the bank and had no official position in it, suggesting that embezzlement charges were inappropriate, the reports said. local media.
However, witnesses who owned large stakes in the companies told the court they had been instructed to act on Lan's behalf. Therefore, the judges concluded that Lan had control of more than 90% in SCB through proxies and was the de facto owner of the bank, local media reported.
The loans reportedly
totaled $44 billion
and accounted for more than 90% of SCB's loans between 2012 and 2022. An estimated $12.3 billion was channeled to Van Thinh Phat, while other funds ended used privately. Some of the more than 1,000 loans had been settled by Lan, according to the judges, but the court said he had to compensate the bank in full.
Lan was first arrested in 2022, and the accusations date back about 10 years. In addition to Lan, more than 80 people, including central bank officials, have been charged in the case for harming SCB, state media reported.
Reuters reported on Thursday that a family member confirmed that Lan would appeal the sentence.
Our sister network CNBC could not independently verify the report.
The case against Lan is part of a
broader offensive against corruption launched by the communist party
, in power, in Vietnam and which has been dubbed a “burning furnace.” Senior politicians, including former presidents, have been forced to resign in connection with the campaign and hundreds of officials and businessmen have been convicted.