Vietnamesischer Milliardär wegen Bankbetrugs in Höhe von 44 Milliarden US-Dollar zum Tode verurteilt
T24 International News
In Vietnam, a 67-year-old Vietnamese real estate developer has been sentenced to death for looting one of the country’s largest banks for eleven years.
Truong My Lan was found guilty of taking a loan of $44 billion (€35 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors said that $27 billion was never repaid.
Authorities stated that 2,700 individuals were called to testify, with 10 prosecutors and around 200 lawyers involved in the case.
The evidence was presented in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tons. 85 defendants were brought to trial, including Truong My Lan, who denied the allegations.
Truong My Lan comes from a Chinese-Vietnamese family living in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. This city, which has been the commercial hub of the Vietnamese economy since its time as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, is home to a large ethnic Chinese community.
The billionaire, who used to work as a cosmetics market stall seller with his mother, started buying land and properties after the Communist Party initiated a period of economic reforms called Doi Moi in 1986. By the 1990s, the company had a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.
While Vietnam is mainly known internationally for its rapidly growing manufacturing sector as an alternative supply chain to China, many influential Vietnamese individuals have made their wealth through real estate development.
It was claimed that all lands officially belonged to the state and access to these lands often relied on personal relationships with government officials. It was found that as economic growth increased, corruption also rose and became widespread.
Until 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known businessman in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from owning more than 5% of a bank’s shares. However, prosecutors alleged that Truong My Lan, through hundreds of shell companies and individuals acting as his representatives, owned over 90% of Saigon Commercial Bank’s shares.
My Lan was accused of appointing his own people as managers and instructing them to approve hundreds of loans to a network of shell companies under his control.
