Vietnamese fraudster Trương Mỹ Lan, on death row, faces new charges

Trương Mỹ Lan (centre), former chairwoman of Vạn Thịnh Phát Group, faces a new trial starting on Thursday for multiple financial fraud charges. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Former Vietnamese real estate tycoon and convicted fraudster Trương Mỹ Lan, already on death row, faces a new trial starting on Thursday on various financial fraud charges, underscoring the Government’s commitment to intensifying its anti-corruption campaign.

The 68-year-old Lan, chairwoman of Vạn Thịnh Phát Group, is going on trial in HCM City, along with 33 co-defendants, for multiple financial frauds. The trial is expected last up to one month.

According to one of her attorneys, Lan remains in good health and has been cooperative throughout the investigation.

In April, she received a death sentence for embezzling VNĐ677 trillion (US$27 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) between February 2018 and October 2022. She has filed an appeal against this verdict.

In the second trial, police have charged Lan and her co-defendants with the illegal transfer of $4.5 billion across international borders over a span of ten years.

She is also accused of laundering around VNĐ446 trillion ($18.1 billion) derived from assets misappropriated from SCB.

In addition, she allegedly misappropriated over VNĐ35 trillion from more than 35,000 investors through the issuance of bonds.

The court has requested over 35,000 individuals who acquired fraudulent bonds related to this case to stay informed about the trial's progress via the HCM City People’s Court official website: https://hochiminhcity.toaan.gov.vn/webcenter/portal/hochiminh/chitietchidaodieuhanh?dDocName=TAND339235

Many victims have yet to file complaints, which has hindered ongoing investigations, according to the police.

The arrest of the chairwoman in late 2022 led to a bank run. The central bank has guaranteed deposits but not reimbursed victims of the fraudulent bonds, sparking public outrage.

Numerous bondholders affected in the scandal have demonstrated outside the Ministry of Finance and the headquarters of the central bank in Hà Nội, demanding accountability for the case.

Analysts have suggested SCB should have been placed under the central bank management sooner to mitigate potential risks to the financial system.

A chief inspector from the central bank has received a sentence of life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes to conceal the lender’s precarious financial status.

Lan is currently appealing her death sentence by lethal injection, and her lawyer has indicated that a date for this hearing has yet to be established.

Depending on the outcome of this petition, she could face several decades in prison following her previous sentencing of 20 years each for two other charges at the initial trial.

The scandal is the largest financial fraud in Việt Nam’s history.

Experts have raised concerns that cross-ownership among commercial banks in Việt Nam poses significant risks to the overall financial system.

The consequences of the scandal continues to impact the country’s real estate sector as experts have cautioned it may take years to regain the pre-pandemic growth rate.

The sector has been adversely affected by regulatory and legal bottlenecks, liquidity issues, and a freeze in the corporate bond market amidst government investigations into fraud and misconduct by real estate firms.

Lan, as chairwoman of Vạn Thịnh Phát Group, was renowned for her control over luxury properties across major cities in Việt Nam.

Lan is among the most high-profile targets of the government’s prolonged anti-corruption initiative, spearheaded by late Party Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

His successor, Tô Lâm, who also serves as Việt Nam’s president, has pledged to continue the intense campaign. — VNS