Vietnam court sentences Truong My Lan to death for fraud

April 11 (UPI) -- Wealthy real estate entrepreneur Truong My Lan was sentenced to death in a wide-ranging bank fraud.

The 67-year-old property developer was found guilty of fraudulently taking $44 billion in loans from Saigon Commercial Bank over 11 years.

"The defendant's actions not only violated the asset management rights of individuals and organizations but also pushed [Saigon Commercial] into a state of special control; eroding the public's trust in the leadership of the party and the state," the court said

The sentence marked a rare instance of the death penalty being applied to a woman for white-collar crimes and was speculated to be a ploy to encourage Truong My Lan to return $27 billion of the swindled funds.

The unusually high-profile trial in the secretive communist country included 85 defendants, all of whom were found guilty, with four being sentenced to live in prison while the remainder received sentences ranging from three years suspended to 20 years in prison.

Truong My Lan's husband, Hong Kong investor Eric Chu Nap-kee, was sentenced to nine years in prison while her niece was sentenced to 17 years.

The case included 104 boxes of evidence, 10 prosecutors and about 200 attorneys.

It revealed that Troung My Lan cultivated personal relationships among state officials to become one of the country's leading property developers with the state owning the land under communist rule. In 2011, she organized the merger of three banks to develop Saigon Commercial Bank in Ho Chi Minh City.

Even though Vietnam law prevented any individuals from owning more than 5% of any bank, Troung My Lan used proxies running hundreds of shell companies to own more than 90% of Saigon Commercial Bank..

The governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hong, said all the savings accounts and certificates of deposits at Saigon Commercial are secured by the central bank but did not offer such guarantees for bonds purchased by investors.