Death row property tycoon Truong My Lan seeks $29M debt payment from partner

She said that in 2019 Saigon Commercial Bank wanted to buy a five-star apartment project in District 3 owned by local company Hong Ha.

But since SCB was not a property developer and the project was yet to be developed, the lender agreed to buy it through an intermediary, a company owned by Lan’s friend Ho Quoc Minh.

The plan was for Minh to use the same project as collateral for "loans" from SCB, enabling the bank to own the project and Minh to use the loans to pay Hong Ha.

An artist's impression of an apartment building project in District 3 which Saigon Commercial Bank and property Truong My Lan claim to have bought. Photo courtesy of Grand Central

Lan said that SCB, which lacked liquidity then, required her to part fund the deal, and she agreed to lend the bank VND740 billion, of the VND2.09 trillion cost.

Between 2019 and 2022 SCB paid VND1.35 trillion to Hong Ha, and the company has confirmed to the court it received the money.

But it said it never received any money from Lan, who claims to have paid the amount in cash but without obtaining a receipt.

She now wants a Hong Ha representative to clarify the issue in court or the police to investigate into the matter.

The company has agreed to discuss the matter with Lan to see if she had actually paid the money, and is willing to repay her if the payment can be confirmed.

Lan is appealing her death sentence which she was awarded in April for embezzling VND677 trillion ($27 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank over the course of 10 years.

She was also given a life sentence last month for "fraudulent appropriation of assets" through bond issuances and illegal cross-border money transfers among others.