Truong My Lan’s death sentence appeal verdict to be announced today

The People’s High Court of Ho Chi Minh City will also give its verdict 47 against other appellants after a four-week trial.

Lan, the 68-year-old chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat, has admitted to her crimes and sought commutation of her death sentence.

But she also urged the court to reconsider the amount of money she was accused of embezzling.

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

Her defense team argued that SCB had VND125 trillion in loans before its merger with two other banks in 2012, and these were wrongfully attributed to Lan during the investigation.

The figure was discovered recently when her lawyers reviewed court documents.

She has turned in VND323 trillion to the bank as compensation, or three-fourths of what she was found guilty of misappropriating.

But prosecutors have maintained her death sentence should be upheld since her crimes caused "unprecedented" consequences.

They have however sought commutation of sentences awarded to some of her accomplices, recommending reducing the sentences from nine years to seven or eight for her husband Eric Chu and from 17 years to 14 or 15 for her niece Truong Hue Van.

They have called for confirming the life sentence awarded to Do Thi Nhan, a central bank official who was found guilty of receiving $5.2 million in bribes from Lan and her accomplices to overlook their embezzlement and other crimes at SCB.

SCB lost VND677 trillion in all due to the actions of Lan and her accomplices, the first instance court ruled in April 2024.

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.