Truong My Lan, the chair of the developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules on Thursday, in a case that has shocked the country. A total of $12.5bn was embezzled, the equivalent of almost 3% of Vietnamese gross domestic product, but prosecutors said on Thursday the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to $27bn.
The trial is part of a national corruption crackdown led by the secretary general of the Communist party of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phú Trọng. The campaign, which is also known as “Blazing Furnace” and has increased in recent years, has led to the indictment of thousands of people, as well as the The verdicts announced on Thursday followed a five-week trial that has been covered in great detail in Vietnam’s tightly controlled state media.
Although Lan did not directly hold executive power at SCB, she owned 91.5% of the bank’s shares through third parties and shell companies.