{"id":2531,"date":"2024-04-12T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:00:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T09:00:42","slug":"real-estate-tycoon-sentenced-to-death-for-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=2531","title":{"rendered":"Real estate tycoon sentenced to death for fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 55 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

VIETNAM<\/strong>\u2014Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam<\/span> in the country\u2019s largest financial fraud case on Thursday, state media outlet Vietnam Net<\/em> said.<\/p>\n

According to an APNews<\/em> report, the 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was formally charged with fraud to the tune of $12.5 billion\u2014nearly 3% of the country\u2019s 2022 GDP.<\/p>\n

Portions of the judgment as quoted by State media VnExpress<\/em>\u00a0said Lan\u2019s actions \u201cnot only violate the property management rights of individuals and organisations but also push SCB (Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank) into a state of special control; eroding people\u2019s trust in the leadership of the Party and State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Businesswoman Truong My Lan, front center, attends a trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Thursday, April 11, 2024. (Thanh Tung\/VnExpress via AP)<\/p>\n

VnExpress\u00a0<\/em>had previously reported that Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion to the bank. The court asked her to compensate the bank with $26.9 million.<\/p>\n

Although this is her first offence and charity activities, the court attributed its harsh sentence to \u201cthe seriousness of the case, saying Lan was at the helm of an orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that had serious consequences with no possibility of the money being recovered,\u201d VnExpress<\/em> said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lan\u2019s niece, Truong Hue Van, who served as CEO of the real estate company, was handed 17 years of imprisonment for \u201caiding her aunt,\u201d and Lan\u2019s husband, Eric Chu Nap-kee, was jailed for nine years.<\/p>\n

About the company<\/strong><\/h6>\n

As APNews <\/em>reported, Lan and her family established the Van Thing Phat company in 1992 after Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favour of a more market-oriented approach that was open to foreigners.<\/p>\n

She started out helping her mother, a Chinese entrepreneur, sell cosmetics in Ho Chi Minh City\u2019s oldest market, according to state media Tien Phong.<\/p>\n

Van Thinh Phat would grow to become one of Vietnam\u2019s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:\u00a0<\/strong>Hajia 4Reall pleads guilty to receiving fraud proceeds from romance scam; faces up to 5 years in prison<\/a><\/p>\n

This made her a key player in the country\u2019s financial industry. She orchestrated the 2011 merger of the beleaguered SCB bank with two other lenders in coordination with Vietnam\u2019s central bank,\u00a0APNews\u00a0<\/em>said.<\/p>\n

The court found that she used this approach to tap SCB for cash. She indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank\u2014a charge she denied\u2014and approved thousands of loans to \u201cghost companies,\u201d according to government documents.<\/p>\n

These loans then found their way back to her, state media VnExpress<\/em> reported, citing the court\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

She then bribed officials to cover her tracks, it added.<\/p>\n

Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced Thursday to life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.<\/p>\n

Lan\u2019s arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing\u00a0anti-corruption drive in Vietnam\u00a0that has intensified since 2022.<\/p>\n

The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics.\u00a0Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned\u00a0in March after being implicated in the campaign.<\/p>\n

The post Real estate tycoon sentenced to death for fraud<\/a> first appeared on 3News<\/a>.<\/p>

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VIETNAM\u2014Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in the country\u2019s largest financial fraud case on Thursday,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}