Billionaire Truong My Lan, 67, received her sentence on Thursday for looting one of Vietnam‘s top banks over the course of 11 years.
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In a rare verdict, the property developer has now become one of the very few Vietnamese women to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.
The verdict reflects the astounding extent of the fraud as Truong My Lan was found guilty of taking out $44 billion (£35 billion) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank.
That is approximately 9.36% of Vietnam’s 2024 GDP.
Dressed down from her usual lavish gowns and looks, Truong My Lan denied the charges against her.
She will now have to refund $27 billion, as per the court verdict, which prosecutors say may never be recovered.
“The defendant’s actions… eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City.
Some think the death penalty is a way of encouraging the tycoon to return some of the missing billions.
In an oddly forthright manner, the usually secretive communist authorities went minute detail into Truong My Lan’s case.
In a “show trial” unlike any other in the communist era, officials revealed that 2,700 people were asked to testify, with 10 state prosecutors and some 200 attorneys participating.
The evidence was stored in 104 crates weighing a total of six tonnes, with 85 defendants tried alongside the billionaire.
David Brown, a retired US state department official, told the BBC: “There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era. There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”
Following a five-week trial in the economic capital of Ho Chi Minh City, 85 others await judgements and sentences on allegations ranging from bribery and abuse of authority to appropriation and violations of banking law.
Devil in disguise
Truong My Lan was raised in Ho Chi Minh City, then known as Saigon, by a Sino-Vietnamese family.
With a sizable ethnic Chinese population, it has long been the commercial backbone of the Vietnamese economy, going all the way back to when South Vietnam was still fighting communism and its capital.
She began her career selling cosmetics at market stalls alongside her mother, but once the Communist Party ushered in a phase of economic reform known as Doi Moi in 1986, she started investing in real estate.
She possessed a sizable portfolio of hotels and restaurants by the 1990s.
By 2011, as a well-known businesswoman in Ho Chi Minh City, Truong My Lan was able to coordinate the combination of three smaller, financially struggling banks to become Saigon Commercial Bank.
In Vietnam, it is illegal to own more than 5% of the shares in a bank.
However, the prosecution claims that Truong My Lan truly owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial through hundreds of shell corporations and proxies.
They said that she appointed her own employees as managers and then gave them orders to grant hundreds of loans to the network of sham firms she controlled, all while abusing her power.
The sums extracted are astounding as 93 per cent of the bank’s loans came from her.
Prosecutors claim that starting in February 2019, she gave her driver instructions to take out 108 trillion Vietnamese dong—more than $4 billion (£2.3 billion)—in cash from the bank and stash it in her basement over a three-year period.
Even with Vietnam’s highest denomination bills, so much cash would weigh two tonnes.
She was also charged with giving lavish bribes to make sure her loans were never investigated. One of the defendants in the trial was a former central bank chief inspector who was charged with taking a $5 million bribe.
Le Hong Hiep, from the Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told the BBC he was left completely “puzzled” by the scheme.
“Because it wasn’t a secret,” he said.
“It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations.
“It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”
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The death penalty around the world
There are 54 countries worldwide still retaining the capital punishment in law and practice.
Some of them include:
VIETNAM: In Vietnam, the death penalty can be imposed for a variety of crimes, including drug trafficking, murder, and other serious offences. The methods of execution typically include lethal injection and firing squad.
UNITED STATES: In the United States, the death penalty remains a controversial topic. While it is legal at the federal level and in many states, its use has declined over the years due to concerns about fairness, effectiveness, and the risk of executing innocent people. Some states have abolished it altogether, while others still actively carry out executions, though less frequently than in previous decades.
CHINA: In China, the death penalty is still used extensively, with thousands of executions reported each year. The exact number of executions is considered a state secret, but China is believed to have one of the highest execution rates in the world. The death penalty can be applied to a wide range of crimes, including non-violent offences such as drug trafficking.
IRAN: In Iran, the death penalty is also used extensively, often for crimes such as drug trafficking, murder, adultery, and political dissent. The methods of execution include hanging, stoning, and firing squad.
SAUDI ARABIA: In Saudi Arabia, the death penalty is used as a punishment for various crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, apostasy, and sorcery. Executions are typically carried out by beheading in public squares, although other methods such as firing squad and stoning have also been reported.
NORTH KOREA: North Korea is known to have one of the most secretive and authoritarian regimes in the world, and information about its legal system, including the use of the death penalty, is limited and often difficult to verify. However, reports from defectors and human rights organisations suggest that executions, including public executions, are carried out for various offences deemed as threats to the regime’s power. These offences may include political dissent, attempting to defect, or other acts perceived as disloyal to the government. Officially, the North Korean government does not release information about the use of the death penalty.
SINGAPORE: Singapore retains the death penalty and applies it for certain serious crimes, such as drug trafficking and murder. The country has strict laws regarding drug offenses, with the death penalty being mandatory for certain quantities of illegal drugs. Singapore’s government argues that the death penalty is necessary to maintain public safety and deter crime. Executions are typically carried out by hanging.