A Vietnamese tycoon is scrambling to raise $9B to avoid execution

Truong My Lan saw her bid to appeal a death sentence rejected by a court in Vietnam.

A Vietnamese real estate tycoon is desperately trying to raise $9 billion to avoid the death penalty after her bid to appeal the sentence was rejected on Tuesday.

Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Group, was arrested in 2022 and sentenced to death in April for embezzling $12.5 billion over a decade.

The sum amounted to about 3% of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP.

The fraud trial, which began in March, was Vietnam’s largest ever and among Southeast Asia’s most significant corruption scandals in recent years.

Lan was accused of illegally controlling Saigon Commercial Bank and using shell companies to secure more than 2,500 loans for herself and her accomplices.

She was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violating banking rules.

In a separate trial in October, Lan appealed to the judges and prosecutors for clemency, saying she had to pay “too expensive a price.”

However, judges at the People’s High Court of Ho Chi Minh City rejected Lan’s appeal on Tuesday, saying that there are no mitigating circumstances to reduce her sentence, according to local media outlet VnExpress.

But they said the country’s law allows a death sentence to be commuted to life in prison provided three-quarters of the estimated losses are returned, per the outlet.

In Lan’s case, that amounts to about $9 billion.

Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow in the Vietnam Studies Program at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, told the AP that death sentences in Vietnam aren’t immediately carried out, and that Lan would seek another review of the case or a presidential pardon to reduce her sentence.

“Moreover, if she repays at least three-quarters of the misappropriated funds, the court may consider commuting her sentence to life imprisonment,” he said.

According to the BBC, in recent hearings Lan has said that she’s embarrassed to have been such a drain on the country and that her only thought was to pay back the money.

“The total value of her holdings actually exceeds the required compensation amount,” her lawyer, Nguyen Huy Thiep, told the outlet before her appeal was rejected.

“However, these require time and effort to sell, as many of the assets are real estate and take time to liquidate,” Nguyen said.

Lan’s lawyers also said that the death sentence would make it harder for her to negotiate the best prices for her assets.

According to the BBC, Lan is also believed to have reached out to friends to try to raise loans to help her reach the target.

While prosecutors identified Lan as the ringleader, her family members were also caught up in the case, including her husband, Eric Chu, and niece, Truong Hue Van, who were both sentenced to time behind bars.

Former executives at Saigon Commercial Bank have also been sentenced to life in prison, along with a senior figure at Vietnam’s central bank.