A Vietnamese court sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death for tax fraud of 304 billion dong, about $12.46 billion, earlier this month, local state media reported.
In early March, as a result of an anti-corruption campaign led by the leader of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, the trial of the tycoon was opened on charges of embezzlement, bribery and violation of banking rules. Although planned to last, the trial ended much earlier, with Lan, the chairman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, found guilty and sentenced to death on the embezzlement charge and received 20 years in prison each on the other two charges bribery and breach of banking regulations.
Before the verdict was handed down, Lan said he would appeal the sentence.
Other defendants in the case, 84, received sentences ranging from three years of probation to life in prison. They include Lan’s husband Eric Chu, a Hong Kong businessman who was sentenced to nine years in prison
Truong My Lan started her career selling cosmetics in the central market of Ho Chi Minh City. In 1992, he founded his real estate company Van Thinh Phat and got married.
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Tags: Vietnamese tycoon sentenced death
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