The trial of Truong My Lan, the 67-year-old Vietnamese woman known as an agent and owner of several properties, was sentenced to death on Thursday for stealing and defrauding one of the country's largest banks for 11 years. This is being considered as the most spectacular trial ever conducted in Vietnam, with the discovery of the largest bank fraud in the country.
This verdict is very rare, as very few women have been sentenced to death in Vietnam, especially for a crime of this nature.
The decision was made due to the high rate of theft. According to records, Truong My Lan extorted more than $44 billion in loans from Saigon Commercial Bank.
According to the communist authorities, a total of 2,700 people were called to testify in the case, and 10 prosecutors and more than 200 lawyers were involved. Evidence was found in more than 104 boxes weighing about 6 tons.
All the accused were found guilty and received life imprisonment, or 20 years depending on the degree of involvement. Truong My Lan comes from a Vietnamese family living in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.
She started her career as a saleswoman in the local bazaar, selling cosmetic products with her mother, and then started buying land and property after the Communist Party made a new economic reform known as Doi Moi in 1986. Until 1990, she owned a chain of hotels and restaurants. By 2011, Truong My Lan was known as one of the most important business figures in her city and was allowed to cooperate with the 3 most popular banks in the country which were part of the Saigon ethnicity.
Vietnamese law prohibits an individual from holding more than 5% of shares or loans in the country's banks, but prosecutors say Truong My Lan managed to own more than 90% of the shares in Saigo Commercial, using individuals others and companies created to take its place.
Its loans account for 93% of all loans distributed by the bank in question. According to prosecutors, over a period of 3 years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw more than $4 billion in cash from the bank and stored it in the basement.
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That much money even if it were stored in Vietnam's largest banknote would weigh at least 2 tons. Truong My Lan is being accused of defrauding and bribing multiple people who ensured she took everything from the bank. It is said that the value of the bribe she has distributed exceeds 5 million dollars.
People are shocked, while the trial became public and her photos have taken over the media. But what raises more questions is how such a huge fraud could have gone on for so many years without being understood and brought to light until now.
