Truong My Lan faces 3 more charges on top of death sentence

By Viet Tuan July 12, 2024 | 09:05 pm PT

Property tycoon Truong My Lan seen at the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City in March 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Property tycoon Truong My Lan, who has been on death row in April, has been charged with fraud, money laundering and illegal cross-border financial transactions.

The Supreme People's Procuracy has pressed charges against her and 33 others following a second phase of investigation into their wrongdoing.

Prosecutors said Lan indirectly owned Saigon Commercial Bank almost entirely and Tan Viet Securities and used them for her crimes.

Between 2012 and 2022 subsidiaries of her company, Van Thinh Phat, illegally transacted money worth $4.5 billion internationally, two-thirds of it coming into Vietnam, they said.

Deputy CEO of Van Thinh Phat Investment, To Thi Anh Dao, was among her accomplices in this, they said.

They said further that between 2018 and 2022 she laundered VND445.75 trillion ($17 billion) she appropriated from SCB and bond investors.

Her accomplices in this included her husband Eric Chu, private driver Bui Van Dung and secretary Tran Thi Hoang Uyen, they said.

Between 2018 and 2019 four Van Thinh Phat subsidiaries made 25 bond issuances and collected VND30 trillion from 35,800 investors.

She was assisted by Nguyen Phuong Anh, deputy CEO of Saigon Peninsula, Trinh Quang Cong, CEO of Acumen, and Truong Khanh Hoang, CEO of SCB.

Following the first phase of investigation, Lan was sentenced to death for embezzling VND677 trillion from SCB, bribery and violating banking regulations.