Death row tycoon Truong My Lan’s niece receives sentence commutation of 4 years

By Quoc Thang, Hai Duyen December 3, 2024 | 12:25 am PT

Truong Hue Van, niece of death row property tycoon Truong My Lan, has seen her sentence for embezzling Saigon Commercial Bank reduced from 17 years to 13 at an appeal court.

The judges said that Van caused the smallest loss to SCB among the accused, and has used personal assets to compensate it.

She did not have financial knowledge when committing her crimes and only wanted to help Lan in her business.

Truong Hue Van, niece of property tycoon Truong My Lan, seen at the People's High Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 3, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

In April Van was sentenced to 17 years in prison for establish and using 51 shell companies to embezzle SCB through loans and causing it a loss of VND25 billion.

Lan, however, was not granted a commutation Tuesday as the judges upheld the death sentence, saying that her crimes have resulted in "grave consequences".

But the law allows a death sentence to be commuted to life if the guilty party recompenses three-fourths of the losses they caused, they said.

Lan in April was found guilty of masterminding a plan to embezzle money from SCB over a course of 10 years, causing it a loss of VND677 trillion (US$27 billion).

In a separate trial in October Lan was awarded a life sentence for "fraudulent appropriation of assets" through bond issuances and illegal cross-border money transfers among other crimes.