Elizabeth O.
In a landmark case, a Vietnamese real estate tycoon named Truong My Lan has been sentenced to death for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme, Aso Naija Reports.
Lan, the 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat, was accused of carrying out fraud amounting to $12.5 billion – nearly 3% of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP.
However, on Thursday, April 11, 2024, a court in Ho Chi Minh City handed down the death sentence to Lan, making this the largest financial fraud case in Vietnam’s history.
Subsequently, the authorities accused Lan of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022, using it to siphon funds through thousands of shell companies and by bribing government officials.
Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was one of the highest-profile cases in Vietnam’s ongoing anti-corruption drive, known as the “Blazing Furnace” campaign.
This crackdown has even reached the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics, with former President Bo Van Thuong resigning in March after being implicated.
The scale of Lan’s fraud has shocked the nation. Her company, VTP, was one of Vietnam’s largest real estate firms, with projects ranging from luxury residential buildings to offices, hotels and shopping centers.
Additionally, the fallout from the scandal has hit the Vietnamese real estate sector hard – an estimated 1,300 property companies withdrew from the market in 2023, developers have been offering steep discounts and gifts to attract buyers, and many commercial properties in Ho Chi Minh City’s city center stand vacant despite a significant drop in rents.
Also in November, Vietnam’s top politician, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, vowed that the anti-corruption fight would “continue for the long term.” Lan’s case appears to be a major milestone in those efforts, sending a strong message about the government’s determination to crack down on large-scale financial crimes.
