Vietnamese tycoon sentenced to death for fraud
Prominent Vietnamese billionaire, Truong My Lan, was sentenced to death on Thursday by a court in Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam in the country's largest financial fraud case ever, state media Thanh Nien said. The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat (VTP) was accused of embezzling US$12.5 billion, but prosecutors on Thursday said the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to US$27 billion -- a figure equivalent to six percent of the country's 2023 GDP.  She was accused of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 to 2022 to siphon of these funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials. Lan's arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022.  VTP was among Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers.  Analysts said the scale of the scam raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly strayed, dampening Vietnam’s economic outlook and making foreign investors jittery at a time when Vietnam has been trying to position itself as the ideal home for businesses trying to pivot their supply chains away from China. The so-called Blazing Furnace anti-corruption campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics.  Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after being implicated in the campaign. (AP)