A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery in a high-profile $12 billion fraud case, state media reported. <\/p>\n
Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced to death in April for her role in Vietnam\u2019s biggest financial fraud case on record. <\/p>\n
The High People\u2019s Court in southern Ho Chi Minh City determined there was no basis to reduce Lan\u2019s death sentence, reported online newspaper VnExpress. <\/p>\n
If Lan is able to return three-quarters of the money embezzled while on death row, it is possible the sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment, the report said. <\/p>\n
She is one of the most famous business executives and state officials jailed in the communist country\u2019s lengthy anti-graft campaign known as \u201cBlazing Furnace.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences Lan caused are unprecedented in the history of litigation and the amount of money embezzled is unprecedentedly large and unrecoverable,\u201d the prosecution was quoted as saying at the appeal hearing by state-run online newspaper VietnamNet. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant\u2019s actions have affected many aspects of society, the financial market, the economy,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
State media cited Lan\u2019s lawyer as saying she had many mitigating circumstances, including \u201chaving admitted guilt, showing remorse and paying back part of the amount of money embezzled,\u201d but prosecutors said that was insufficient. <\/p>\n
Reuters could not immediately reach Lan\u2019s lawyers for comment. <\/p>\n
Lan still has the right to request a review under Vietnam\u2019s cassation or retrial procedures. <\/p>\n
Lan\u2019s arrest in 2022 sparked a run on one of the country\u2019s largest private banks by deposits, Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which was at the center of the fraud and largely owned by Lan through her proxies. <\/p>\n
Documents reviewed by Reuters showed Vietnam\u2019s central bank had as of April pumped $24 billion in \u201cspecial loans\u201d into SCB in an \u201cunprecedented\u201d rescue. <\/p>\n
Apart from the death sentence, Lan was handed a life sentence at a separate trial in October after being found guilty of obtaining property by fraud, money laundering and illegal cross-border money transfers. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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