(PatriotSpotlight.org) – Vietnamese property mogul Truong My Lan faces a landmark corruption trial in which she could face the death penalty for her alleged links to a $12.5 billion fraud scam. The trial, which kicked off on Tuesday March 5th, is the biggest financial fraud case in Vietnamese history.
The 66-year-old real estate firm chair is accused of overseeing several thousand shadow companies, bribing officials and contravening banking rules. Government documents say she is alleged to have had illegal control over the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022, through which she illicitly embezzled more than $12.5 billion.
A further 85 people, including an ex-State Bank of Vietnam employee, are facing charges in the trial, over claims they accepted bribes of up to $5.2 million. Lan’s husband, Eric Chu Nap-kee, a key figure in Hong Kong’s lucrative real estate sector, was also questioned by the prosecutors.
Lan’s arrest comes amid Vietnam’s wider so-called “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption drive which began in 2022. Thousands of both state and private sector workers have been charged under it, and in January 2023 the country’s erstwhile President, Nguyen Xuan, Phuc and two former deputy prime ministers stepped down after their links to corrupt schemes during Covid-19 were revealed.
There are complaints that the push to root out corruption is prompting delays to public investment and anxiety among public officials who fear being implicated in further cases. Vietnam’s once-vibrant real estate market appears to have borne the brunt of the fresh uncertainty, with more than 1,300 property firms ending operations last year alone.However, it is important to keep in mind the global landscape, given that demand has become sluggish worldwide in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the varying degrees of state responses to it. Public investment has slowed down, resulting in a sharp deceleration of worldwide economic growth from 8.02% in 2022 to 5.05% in 2023.
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