A Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for fraud totalling $27 billion faces a potential life sentence Thursday in a related trial on money laundering charges. Property developer Truong My Lan was found guilty in April of swindling cash from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) -- which prosecutors said she controlled -- in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, and sentenced to death. Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.
Prosecutors have now called for a life sentence for Lan on charges of money laundering, illegal cross-border trafficking of cash, and fraud. Another 33 accused, including her husband and niece, also face verdicts and sentencing Thursday, after a four-week trial in Ho Chi Minh City. Around 36,000 people who bought bonds issued by SCB have been identified as victims of the fraud.
Online noodle seller Nguyen Thi Huong told AFP she wanted to die after losing $20,000, her entire savings, in 2022. "When I learned that I had lost all the money I had deposited at SCB Bank, I felt like I was losing my mind," said Huong, 33. She developed insomnia, her health deteriorated from stress and she no longer had money to send her children to extra classes, making them fall behind their peers, she said.
Sign up to get our free daily email of the biggest stories! "I sat by my father's grave, and wished he would take me with him in death," Huon.
