Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in $27bn fraud case

A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defence arguments by Truong My Lan, the chair of the major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade.

“The defendant’s actions … eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] party and state,” read the verdict at the five-week trial in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hundreds of people staged protests in the capital, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City, a relatively rare occurrence in the one-party communist state, after Lan’s arrest in October 2022.

Authorities have said $5.2m allegedly given by Lan and some SCB bankers to state officials to conceal the bank’s violations and poor financial situation was the largest-ever bribe recorded in Vietnam.

The woman who was offered the bribe – Do Thi Nhan, the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team – said during the trial the cash was handed to her in Styrofoam boxes by the former chief executive of SCB, Vo Tan Van.

A Vietnamese luxury property tycoon – Do Anh Dung, head of the Tan Hoang Minh group – was sentenced to eight years in prison last month after he was found guilty of cheating thousands of investors in a $355m bond scam.