Vietnamese tycoon in race to raise $9bn to avoid execution | Global News Avenue

Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan is fighting for her life.

On Tuesday, the 68-year-old will hear her appeal against a death sentence handed down in April for masterminding the world’s largest bank fraud.

It was a rare and shocking verdict – she was one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white-collar crime.

The court found she secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank, the country’s fifth-largest bank, and obtained loans and cash totaling $44bn (£34.5bn) through a network of shell companies over more than a decade.

Prosecutors said $27 billion of that amount was misappropriated and $12 billion was convicted of embezzlement, the most serious financial crime for which she was sentenced to death.

However, Vietnamese law stipulates that if she can repay 75% of the amount taken, her sentence will be reduced to life imprisonment.

During the April trial, Truong My Lan, a former chairman of real estate company Van Thinh Phat Group, acted defiant at times. But in Recent hearings on her appeal She regretted this sentence even more.

She said she was embarrassed that she was such a burden to the country and her only thought was to pay back what she had taken.

Zhang Meilan was born in Ho Chi Minh City to a Chinese-Vietnamese family. She started out as a market vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother. After the Communist Party introduced economic reforms in 1986, she began buying land and properties. By the 1990s, she owned a number of hotels and restaurants.

She was the chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group, a prominent real estate company, when she was convicted and sentenced in April. It was a dramatic moment in the “furnace” anti-corruption campaign led by then Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

All the remaining 85 defendants were convicted. Four of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the rest were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 20 to 3 years, with suspended sentences. Zhang Meilan’s husband and niece were sentenced to nine and 17 years in prison respectively.

The State Bank of Vietnam is believed to have spent billions of dollars to recapitalize Saigon Commercial Bank to prevent a wider banking panic. Prosecutors argued that her crimes were “enormous and unprecedented” and did not justify leniency.

Chang’s lawyer said she was working as quickly as possible to raise the $9 billion needed. But cashing in on her assets proved difficult.

Some of them are luxury properties in Vietnam’s capital, Ho Chi Minh City, that could theoretically be sold quickly. Other forms are shares or equity interests in other businesses or real estate projects.

In total, the state has identified more than a thousand different assets linked to the fraud. These are currently frozen by the authorities. The BBC understands the tycoon has also contacted friends to raise loans for her to help her achieve her goals.

Her lawyers argued for leniency from the judge on financial grounds. Even with her death sentence, they said it would be harder for her to negotiate the best prices for assets and investments, making it harder to raise $9 billion.

They said she could do better if sentenced to life in prison.

Lawyer Nguyen Huy Thiep told the BBC: “The total value of her assets actually exceeds the amount of compensation required.”

“However, these assets require time and effort to sell because many of the assets are real estate and will take time to liquidate. Zhang Meilan hopes that the court can create the most favorable conditions for her to continue to compensate.”

Few expected the justices to be moved by these arguments. If, as expected, they deny her appeal, Chang will effectively be competing with the executioners to raise the funds she needs.

Vietnam considers the death penalty a state secret. The government does not release the number of people on death row, but rights groups say there are more than 1,000, and Vietnam has one of the highest execution rates in the world.

Although prisoners are rarely notified, there are often long delays, often many years before their sentences are carried out. If Zhang Meilan could recover US$9 billion before then, her life would likely be spared.