Vietnamese tycoon Truong My Lan loses death sentence appeal, needs $9bn to save her life

Truong My Lan, the Vietnamese real estate tycoon, is on a mission to raise $9 billion in order to save her life. On Tuesday (Dec 3) she lost her appeal as a court upheld her death sentence for the world’s largest banking fraud. In April, she was found guilty of embezzling more than $12 billion of funds taken as a loan from the Saigon Commercial Bank, the country’s fifth biggest lender.

Truong is now hoping to avoid execution by using a Vietnamese law that would convert her death sentence to life imprisonment if she pays back 75 per cent of what she took. That works out to $9bn.

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BBC quoted Truong’s lawyers as saying that the tycoon was now rushing to raise the required amount but they argue that cashing in her assets was proving to be a difficult task owing to her death sentence.

“The total value of her holdings actually exceeds the required compensation amount,” lawyer Nguyen Huy Thiep was quoted as saying by BBC.

“However, these require time and effort to sell, as many of the assets are real estate and take time to liquidate. Truong My Lan hopes the court can create the most favourable conditions for her to continue making compensation,” he added.

Truong is owner of a few luxury properties in Ho Chi Minh City. She also holds significant stakes in several business and real estate projects.

Over 1,000 assets have been identified by Vietnamese authorities that are believed to be linked to the fraud and all of them have been frozen for now.

When Truong was awarded a rare death sentence in April, she was heading Van Thinh Phat Group, a prominent real estate firm.

Truong started off as a market stall vendor. In 1986, she began buying properties after the Communist Party introduced market reforms. By the 1990s, her real estate portfolio had expanded to include many hotels and restaurants.

(With inputs from agencies)