Truong My Lan seen at the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Oct. 17, 2024. Photo by Read/Quynh Tran
Most of Truong My Lan’s assets, including shares in companies and hundreds of properties, will remain confiscated for the purpose of compensating bond fraud victims, a court has ruled.
The People’s Court of HCMC on Thursday found Lan guilty of swindling thousands of investors through bond issuances worth VND30 trillion (US$1.2 billion) and using the ill-gotten money for personal purposes.
So it ruled that most of her assets should remain confiscated, including her 18% share in a venture that owns the Vietcombank – Bonday – Ben Thanh Building, one of the tallest skyscrapers in HCMC.
The list also includes her VND4.5 trillion and VND600 billion worth of shares in property developer Ngoc Vien Dong and FWD Insurance.
Lan had paid VND15.7 trillion to property developer Bitexco Group to acquire The Spirit of Saigon building in HCMC’s District 1, but VND4 trillion had come from embezzling SCB, the court said.
But it said facts surrounding the deal are conflicting, and ordered the police to continue their investigation into it.
The judges released a building on 29 Lieu Giai, Hanoi, owned by Lan’s daughter, saying it is not related to the case.
The court also unfroze accounts of Lan’s husband, Eric Chu, since he has turned in the VND33 billion he had laundered.
A bank account with VND10 billion belonging to Lan’s brother has also been unfrozen.
But accounts worth VND100 billion belonging to some family members remain frozen.
Lan has been sentenced to life for fraudulent appropriation of assets, “money laundering” and illegal cross-border money transfers in a trial that ended Thursday.
In April she was sentenced to death for embezzling VND677 trillion ($27 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank.
She has appealed the verdict.
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