Hello and welcome to the details of Vietnam property mogul appeals life sentence in US$17.7b money-laundering case and fraud charges and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (2nd left) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city on December 3, 2024. — AFP pic
HANOI, April 21 — A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life for laundering more than US$17 billion (RM74 billion) will learn today whether her appeal against the verdict has been successful after she claimed what happened was “an accident”.
Property developer Truong My Lan has already lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case in which she was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and fraud amounting to US$27 billion.
The appeal court ruled there was no basis to reduce her sentence, but said that she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three quarters of the stolen assets.
Now she awaits the verdict of an appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City today, after she was sentenced to life in prison for three crimes during a second trial in October.
In her final words before the court last week, Lan described what happened as “an accident”.
“Since being jailed, I have tried my best... to seek the best solutions to (deal with my) projects and properties,” she was quoted as saying by state media.
Authorities and Lan have been discussing in court how her assets may be used to compensate victims of her crimes.
“Please acknowledge my effort,” she added.
The 68-year-old was found guilty of laundering US$17.7 billion and illegal cross-border trafficking of US$4.5 billion.
She was also found guilty of bond fraud to the tune of US$1.2 billion.
During the appeal, prosecutors called for a reduced sentence for Lan, citing her repayment of one quarter of the money she defrauded from thousands of bond investors.
In October, the court had determined that Lan was “the mastermind, committed the crime with sophisticated methods, many times, causing especially serious consequences”.
Another 33 defendants were also sentenced during Lan’s October trial and were given jail terms ranging from two to 23 years. State media said 27 of them were appealing their sentences.
During her first trial in April 2024, Lan was found guilty of embezzling US$12.5 billion but prosecutors said the damages caused by the scam totalled US$27 billion — equivalent to around six per cent of the country’s 2023 GDP.
Lan owned just five per cent of shares in SCB on paper but the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 per cent through family, friends and staff.
Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, prompting rare protests in the communist nation. — AFP
These were the details of the news Vietnam property mogul appeals life sentence in US$17.7b money-laundering case and fraud charges for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
