Life sentence for Vietnamese tycoon already facing death penalty

Businesswoman Truong My Lan was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday in relation to a multi-billion-dollar fraud for which she already faces the death penalty, Vietnamese media reported.

The Chairwoman of property developer Van Thinh Phat appeared at Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court to hear the verdict after a month-long trial.

Lan, 68, was found guilty of fraud, money laundering and cross-border currency trafficking.

In April, Lan was sentenced to death for embezzling US$12.5 billion, and a total of 40 years for bribery and violating bank regulations. The court ordered her to repay $27 billion in loans to companies in the Van Thinh Phat group from Siam Commercial Bank, or SCB, in which she holds a 91% stake.

Lan’s lawyers said she planned to appeal the death sentence, although a date has not been announced.

On Thursday Lan was sentenced to life for fraudulent property appropriation, 12 years for laundering more than $18 billion, and eight years for illegally transferring $1.5 billion out of the country and receiving $3 billion from abroad, according to Vietnamese daily the Tuoi Tre.

During the trial of Lan and 33 other defendants, including her husband Eric Chu, the court heard that the Van Thinh Phat chairwoman told senior staff at the property company, SCB and Tan Viet Securities to issue more than 300 million bonds, allowing her to appropriate $1.2 billion from nearly 36,000 investors.

Last Friday, as the trial ended, Lan had been allowed to address the court, appealing for clemency.

“Standing here today is a price too expensive for me to pay. I consider this my destiny and a career accident,” Lan said, according to the VNExpress news site.

“For the rest of my life, I will never forget that my actions have affected tens of thousands of families.”

Edited by Taejun Kang.

By：RFA