A 67-year-old Vietnamese billionaire, Truong My Lan, was on Thursday, sentenced to death for defrauding one of Vietnam’s largest banks ‘Saigon Commercial Bank’ over 11 years.
Lan who is also the Van Thinh Phat chairwoman was sentenced at the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City for defrauding the Bank through a sum loan of $44bn (£35bn).
The property developer has been ordered to remit $27bn to the bank, according to BBC, which is not realistic as the fund may never be retrieved.
Her verdict was reached after “2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.
“The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes while saying 85 defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges”.
“The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the ‘Blazing Furnaces’ anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong,” the paper was quoted as saying.
Speaking On the court verdict, Lan pleaded not guilty while admitting that she might have violated banking regulations, but she was not the main culprit of the wrongdoing.
She said “This is probably because I joined the banking industry without experience in it. Due to my lack of understanding of legal matters, I could not foresee being dragged into the restructuring of SCB and therefore did the wrong things.”
“I earnestly request the judges to show evidence for the embezzlement and bribery charges against me.”
