Vietnam tycoon on death row faces new trial

A Vietnamese property tycoon already sentenced to death for financial fraud went on trial on Thursday over additional charges of money laundering.

Truong My Lan, chairwoman of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat, was given the death penalty in April for orchestrating Vietnam's biggest ever financial fraud case.

The 67-year-old was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion (€11.2 billion), which amounts to nearly 3% of the Southeast Asian country's 2022 GDP.

Lan is now facing charges of obtaining property by fraud, money laundering and illegal cross-border money transfers, according to state media.

What are the fresh charges?

Lan raised $1.2 billion from some 36,000 investors by issuing bonds illegally via four companies, according to a police statement released ahead of the trial.

The investigation discovered 21 companies controlled by Lan's Van Thinh Phat that illegally transferred over $4.5 billion in and out of Vietnam between 2012-2022.

The Vietnamese billionaire is also accused of laundering $18 billion obtained through fraud.

The case, which is expected to last a month, also involves 33 other defendants.

On Thursday, Lan and the other defendants arrived at the court in Ho Chi Minh City in a convoy of police vans.

Over a dozen fraud victims waited outside the court demanding to be allowed to the hearing.

Lan is one of the several high-profile business leaders and state officials imprisoned following the communist-ruled country's yearslong anti-corruption campaign, dubbed "Blazing Furnace."

dvv/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)