Vietnam tycoon appeals against $27 bn fraud death sentence

A top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case has launched an appeal against her conviction, state media said Friday.

Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty this month of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade.

The 68-year-old was found to have embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to $27 billion -- one of the biggest frauds in history, equivalent to six percent of Vietnam's 2023 GDP.

Thanh Nien news site said Lan has filed an appeal against the verdict and sentence and that the court in Ho Chi Minh City had received it.

Lan said in her appeal she took on risks through the bank but did not appropriate the bank's money.

After a five-week trial, 85 others were sentenced alongside Lan on charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to appropriation and violations of banking law.

Four were given life imprisonment, while the others received jail terms ranging between 20 years and three years suspended.

Police have identified around 42,000 victims of the scandal, which has shocked the Southeast Asian country.

The case was part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam's business elite in recent years.

The latest scalp was the head of the National Assembly, who resigned on Friday because of "violations and shortcomings", according to a party statement.

And on Thursday the head of one of Vietnam's top soft drinks companies was jailed for eight years in a $40 million fraud case.