In a shocking turn of events, Truong My Lan, a top Vietnamese property tycoon, was sentenced to death on Thursday. This marks a significant milestone in one of the largest corruption cases in history, with an estimated $27 billion in damages.
Lan, the chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat (VTP), was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violations of banking rules. The 67-year-old businesswoman was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion, nearly 3% of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP.
The case was part of a major state anticorruption drive and has been described as the largest case of fraud in Vietnam’s history. Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022.
Lan, who started out helping sell cosmetics with her mother in Ho Chi Minh city’s oldest market, established the Van Thinh Phat company in 1992. Over the years, VTP grew to become one of Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels, and shopping centers.
However, Lan’s empire began to crumble when she was accused of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank from 2012 to 2022. She allegedly siphoned off these funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials.
The scale of the scam has raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly erred. This has dampened Vietnam’s economic outlook and made foreign investors jittery.
While death sentences are not uncommon in Vietnam, it is rare in financial crime cases and for someone this well known. This case has shocked the nation and has sent a clear message about the government’s stance on corruption.
As the dust settles on this landmark case, one thing is clear: no one, not even the wealthiest tycoons, is above the law.