The Vietnamese government has sentenced Truong Lan, a billionaire, to death for looting one of the biggest banks in the country.
According to a report published by Voice of America (VOA), on Thursday, Lan, 67, chairperson of a real estate company, Van Thinh Phat, was charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion, or almost 3 per cent of the nation’s GDP in 2022.
She was also said to have committed the crime between 2012 and 2022, where she unlawfully managed the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank in order to embezzle these monies through hundreds of fictitious businesses and by offering bribes to public servants.
According to the report, the court ruled that Ms Lan should also return $27 billion, an amount that the prosecution has stated may never be found.
Her arrest in October 2022 made headlines in various media, making her one of the most well-known subjects of Vietnam’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign that has been underway since 2022.
