A property tycoon has been sentenced to dying in Vietnam after the largest fraud trial within the nation’s historical past.

Truong My Lan was sentenced on Thursday by a courtroom in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis after being discovered responsible of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking guidelines following a month-long trial, state media reported.

The 67-year-old chair of the corporate Van Thinh Phat (VTP) was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5bn – almost 3% of the nation’s GDP in 2022.

Lan and her accomplices had been charged with illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Inventory Business Financial institution (SCB) between 2012 and 2022 to siphon off funds by means of 1000’s of ghost corporations and by paying bribes to authorities officers.

From early 2018 to October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits, Lan appropriated giant sums by arranging illegal loans to shell corporations, investigators mentioned.

The beginning of the trial featured prominently in state media, which confirmed footage and photographs of Lan within the courtroom surrounded by dozens of cops.

“Lan did not plead responsible and did not present regret,” Thanh Nien newspaper cited the prosecutors as saying final month, whereas demanding the dying penalty on the cost of embezzlement.

“The implications are extraordinarily severe and irreparable, and subsequently, there have to be a strict punishment for Truong My Lan and take away her from society,” it added.

The cruel sentence was because of the seriousness of the case, with the courtroom saying Lan was on the helm of an orchestrated and complex legal enterprise that had severe penalties – with no risk of the cash being recovered, state media VnExpress reported on Thursday.

“We are going to hold preventing to see what we are able to do,” a member of the family informed Reuters information company, talking on situation of anonymity. Earlier than the decision was issued, he had mentioned Lan would enchantment towards the sentence.

A complete of 84 defendants within the case obtained sentences starting from probation to life imprisonment, reported Thanh Nien.

VTP was amongst Vietnam’s richest property corporations, with tasks together with luxurious residential buildings, places of work, accommodations and buying centres.

Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was among the many most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam.

The crackdown, dubbed “blazing furnace”, has led to a whole lot of senior state officers and high-profile enterprise leaders going through prosecution or being compelled to step down.

Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after being implicated within the marketing campaign.

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Nguyen Phu Trong, chief of the ruling Communist Celebration, has pledged for years to stamp out corruption within the nation.

In November, he mentioned the anti-corruption struggle would “proceed for the long run”.