Vietnamese authorities are considering filing new charges against Truong My Lan, the real estate mogul who was sentenced to death in April for her role in the country’s largest-ever fraud scandal. State media reports indicate that Lan could face additional accusations of money laundering, illegal appropriation of property, and unlawful currency transfers.
The latest allegations stem from a police investigation that revealed Lan had illegally trans-ferred an astonishing $4.5 billion in and out of Vietnam. The Ministry of Public Security has recommended prosecuting her for these alleged financial crimes, according to the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper.
Lan, the 67-year-old former head of developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty in April of embezzlement, bribery, and violating banking regulations. The court ruled that between 2012 and 2022, she had illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) to siphon funds through thousands of shell companies.
Her husband, Hong Kong billionaire Eric Chu Nap Kee, received a nine-year prison sen-tence for his involvement in the scam. Lan, who denied the charges against her, has ap-pealed her death sentence.
Prosecutors alleged that the damages from the scheme totaled an astronomical $27 billion, equivalent to 6% of Vietnam’s entire economy. Lan’s case is one of the most high-profile targets of the government’s “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign, which has led to the resignations of two presidents and the discipline or imprisonment of hundreds of offi-cials since its launch in 2016.
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