A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, 68, after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery in a high-profile US$12 billion fraud case, state media reported.
Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced to death in April for her role in what was Vietnam’s biggest financial fraud case on record.
The High People’s Court in southern Ho Chi Minh City determined there was no basis to reduce Lan’s death sentence, reported online newspaper VnExpress.
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.
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Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for US$12.5 billion fraud
Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for US$12.5 billion fraud
“The consequences Lan caused are unprecedented in the history of litigation and the amount of money embezzled is unprecedentedly large and unrecoverable,” the prosecution was quoted as saying at the appeal hearing by state-run online newspaper VietnamNet.