Vietnamese tycoon Truong My Lan sentenced to death with $27 bln compensation pending

Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on Thursday sentenced Truong My Lan, chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, to death in one of the most notorious criminal cases in Vietnam.

The court sentenced Lan to death for property embezzlement, but she also received 20 years in prison for violating lending regulations, and a further 20 years for bribery. Lan is obliged to pay more than VND670,000 billion (nearly $27 billion) in compensation to Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).

The trial panel stated that the investigation process, trial proceedings, and the defendants' testimonies were consistent with the evidence provided, and there was sufficient basis to determine that Truong My Lan was the owner of Van Thinh Phat Group.

Van Thinh Phat Group has more than 1,000 businesses including subsidiaries and member companies in Vietnam and abroad, which were divided into many layers. They have been referred to as the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem.

According to the court, the defendant had been breaking the law for a prolonged period of time using sophisticated tricks. "Her crime has caused extremely serious consequences which cannot be remedied, so she must be strictly punished."

"The defendant's actions not only violated the property management rights of individuals and organizations but also pushed SCB into a state of 'special control', eroding people's trust in the leadership of the Party and State," the judgment noted.

Regarding damages, the jury determined that as Lan appropriated SCB's assets, she was obliged to compensate the bank. A number of loans have already been settled and Lan also paid additional money to remedy the consequences, but she still owes more than VND673,800 billion ($26.96 billion).

The court also ordered continued distraint of assets for judgment enforcement.

According to the judgment, from 2011, Lan acquired three weak private banks to merge them into SCB. Abusing the government's SCB restructuring policy, Lan turned the bank into a financial tool to mobilize capital for herself and the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem.

Controlling 91.5% of SCB's shares through various individuals, Lan directed key leaders at the bank and Van Thinh Phat to create false documents and withdraw money. To legalize the withdrawals and avoid detection, she instructed SCB staff to transfer disbursed money to "ghost" companies, then withdraw cash or transfer it to cut off the cash flow trail.

"Providing low-value collateral assets and falsely raising them to secure large loans was how she stole people's money deposited at SCB," the court said.

From 2012 to 2017, Lan directed false documents to be drawn up for 304 "customers", taking out 368 loans. By 2022, these loans had an outstanding balance of more than VND132,000 billion ($5.28 billion), in both principal and interest.

After deductiions from collateral assets, these loans caused a loss of VND64,600 billion ($2.58 billion).

From February 2018 to October 2022, Lan directed the creation of 916 SCB loan applications worth VND545,000 billion ($21.81 billion), appropriating VND304,000 billion and causing a loss of nearly VND130,000 billion in interest.

During her 10 years of running SCB, Lan directed her accomplices to disburse over 2,500 loans to the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem. By October 2022, Lan and the ecosystem still had nearly 1,300 outstanding loans worth VND677,000 billion ($27.09 billion) in principal and interest.