‘I accept my destiny’, property tycoon Truong My Lan tells court in tears

Lan, 68, told the People's Court of HCMC Friday that she was "sad and hurt" to see many family members and employees stand trial along with her.

"I consider this my destiny. I take responsibility for what I did." She promised to pay for the losses caused to defrauded victims.

Prosecutors on Friday recommended a life sentence for Lan, accusing her of committing three crimes—fraudulent asset appropriation, money laundering, and illegal cross-border money transfers.

In April, the chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat got death sentence for embezzling VND677 trillion from Saigon Commercial Bank. She has appealed the verdict.

Lan said she had "respect for the decisions of the prosecutors," but found their recommendation of a life sentence "too harsh".

She also sought reduced sentences for other defendants, including her niece Truong Hue Van and sister-in-law Ngo Thanh Nha, saying they only carried out their duties as employees.

She also requested a pardon for her husband Eric Chu in the "money laundering" suit, saying his family had turned in to SCB the VND33 billion (US$1.3 million) he had laundered.

Lan’s lawyer Phan Trung Hoai asked the court to consider the circumstances and motives behind her alleged crimes, and to distinguish them from the charges against her in the first phase of the trial.

Concerning her alleged fraud in bond issuance, he said that SCB issued bonds between 2018 and 2020 to pay its many debts.

"Lan was only a shareholder with no role or title in SCB. She did not participate in any of the bank’s operations and therefore could not be the mastermind behind the issuance."

She did not have much knowledge about the bond and stock markets either, he claimed.

If she had not been arrested she would have paid all bond investors since even her family and employees were among them, he said.

Referring to the "money laundering" charge, he said she has already been found guilty of embezzlement and appealed the verdict.

He pleaded with the judges to reconsider whether to try her for illegal trans-border movement of money since all money moved in and out of SCB was monitored by the banking system and authorities.

SCB and other entities were the ones who carried out the transactions, and so they should be tried and not Lan, he said.

Her lawyers have already said she has VND67.69 trillion in assets that can be used to pay the bond holders.