Vietnamese Billionaire Sentenced To Death In Multi-Billion Dollar Fraud Case (X image@NayakSatya_SG)

Truong My Lan, the real estate tycoon of Vietnam was sentenced to death. The court in Ho Chi city of southern Vietnam awarded death penalty to the 67-year-old in the country’s largest financial fraud case ever, said state media Thanh Nien. Lan was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion, which is nearly 3 percent of the country’s GDP in 2022.

Reportedly, she illegally controlled the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between the year 2012 to 2022 siphoning the fund through thousands of ghost companies. She also bribed government officials in the process. Her arrest in 2022 was the most high-profile arrest during the anti-corruption drive in Vietnam which intensified after 2022. The campaign was also called as ‘Burning Furnace, and it has reached the highest tiers of Vietnamese politics. The country’s former President Vo Van Thuong stepped down from the position after being implicated in the anti-corruption campaign.

The scale of Lan’s trial shocked the nation. Her company, Van Thinh Phat, was one of the richest among Vietnam’s real estate firm. The company had projects building luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centres. The scale of the scam raised speculations over whether other banks and businesses had erred the economic outlook of the country by making foreign investors jittery during a time when Vietnam has been trying to position itself as an ideal home for businesses that are trying to keep distance from China.

The real estate sector of Vietnam was hit hard by Lan’s case. Nearly 1,300 property firm withdrew from the country’s market in 2023. Developers has been offering discounts and gold offering hoping to attract buyers. Despite the rent for shophouses fall to one-third in Ho Chi Minh city, several in the city are still empty.