BANGKOK – The mastermind of Vietnam’s largest corporate fraud, businesswoman Truong My Lan, returned to court Tuesday for her latest appeal, state media reported, while she continued other efforts to repay billions and avoid a death sentence.
The 68-year old chairwoman of prominent real estate company Van Thinh Phat was sentenced to death in April last year for the embezzlement of billions of dollars from Saigon Commercial Bank. The death penalty could be reduced to life imprisonment if she repays three-quarters of the estimated US$11 billion of stolen funds.
At the end of a second trial on related fraud charges in October, she was sentenced to life in prison for illegal property appropriation, 12 years for money laundering and eight years for illegally transferring money in and out of the country. Lan’s appeal, her second, is asking the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City to reduce her life sentence.
Lan has asked her legal team to focus on securing funds to pay back the defrauded bondholders, according to Bloomberg. She asked prosecutors to recover US$585 million of bond proceeds from banks and also plans to sell some assets, lawyer Giang Hong Thanh said.
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Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party has been cracking down on corruption among party officials and their dealings in key industries such as property and healthcare in response to widespread bribery and embezzlement.
The campaign, known as the “blazing furnace” was spearheaded by former party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and continued by his successor To Lam.
Some 27 co-defendants are also appealing their sentences at the High Court in Ho Chi Minh City in hearings expected to last until April 21.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.