News on April 11,
Vietnamese real estate developer and richest woman Zhang Mei Lan
was taken by a court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The death penalty was imposed.
Previously, according to the Vietnam News Agency and other media reports, the prosecutor demanded that the death penalty be imposed on the case of Vietnamese real estate developer and the richest woman, Zhang Mei Lan, who was involved in fraud and corruption. Ms. Truong was tried March 5 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on suspicion of embezzlement of more than $12 billion in property, along with nearly 90 other defendants. The Vietnam News Agency reported that at the trial on the afternoon of March 19, prosecutors said that the defendants were legally conscious. Under such circumstances, the defendant's conduct caused particularly heavy economic losses and adverse public opinion, and "needs to be dealt with seriously".
Zhang Meilan (center) / Visual China
On March 5, local time, Vietnam's largest financial fraud case was tried in Ho Chi Minh City, and Vietnam's richest woman, Zhang Meilan, founder of real estate developer VTP Group, and 85 defendants were accused of participating in the embezzlement of $12 billion in assets (about 86.388 billion yuan).
Truong My Lan has been a key figure in Vietnam's financial industry, having founded VTP Group in 1992 and is engaged in real estate, finance, catering, and hotel businesses.
On October 8, 2022, Truong My Lan was arrested by Vietnamese police and subsequently charged with corruption, bribery, and breach of credit rules.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate of Viet Nam has prosecuted 85 defendants on multiple charges. The indictment alleges that VTP Group, founded by Cheung, consists of 1,000 subsidiaries and joint ventures, managed by her family and relatives, and that although she does not hold a position at Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank, she holds between 85 and 91.5 percent of the shares as a major shareholder of the bank.
According to reports, Truong My Lan, 67, is suspected of defrauding the equivalent of 3% of Vietnam's GDP in 2022 through Ghost Inc., bribing government officials, and the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), Vietnam's fifth-largest bank, which she illegally controls.
According to reports, Truong My Lan is accused of colluding with senior executives of Saigon Commercial Bank to fraudulently arrange more than 2,500 loans at Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank between 2012 and 2022, providing more than VND 1,000 trillion in loans to VTP Group and related companies, accounting for 93% of the total loans issued by Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank during this period.
Investigators determined that Truong My Lan caused losses of more than VND 498 trillion to Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank. Among them, between October 2018 and October 2022, Truong Mei Lan and her co-defendants falsified 916 loan information to meet their personal needs, and defrauded Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank of about 304 trillion VND (US$12 billion, about 86.3 billion yuan). The bank has so far failed to pay the amount and has incurred more than VND 129 trillion in interest.
The investigation revealed that between February 2019 and September 2022, Truong My Lan's driver transported more than US$4.4 billion worth of cash from the Saigon Commercial Bank headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City to her home and VTP Group headquarters.
In addition, Ong was charged with offering bribes to the Bank Negara Negara inspectorate in the hope of obtaining asylum for her and the Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
The police have confirmed
As many as 42,000 people have been killed in this case
This large-scale fraud case shocked the whole country
Raised hundreds of people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Protests were held
The case is part of the Vietnamese government's multi-year campaign against corruption. In recent months, a number of high-ranking officials in the country have resigned or been arrested on suspicion of corruption.
In August 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh made it clear that he would strengthen supervision of the sale of real estate companies' bonds to avoid speculation and price manipulation, and in September 2022, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Vietnam, Tao Minh Thu, warned that the central bank would strengthen its scrutiny of bank loans, especially in risky areas such as real estate projects.
Trao has a strong influence in Vietnam's real estate industry, and she founded VTP Group, the largest private real estate company in Vietnam. Since VTP Group is not listed, Zhang Meilan's specific net worth is unknown, but Vietnamese insiders generally call her "the richest Chinese woman in Vietnam", a fourth-generation Chinese in Vietnam, whose ancestral home is Shantou, Guangdong Province.
After the news of the arrest was revealed
It once caused an uproar in the industry
This led to a run on Saigon Commercial Bank
At the same time, it has also triggered the Vietnamese real estate industry
and the crisis in the corporate bond market
In the end, thanks to a series of measures taken by the Vietnamese government, the run on Saigon Commercial Bank was able to subside.
It is reported that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court indicted the first defendant, Truong My Lan, on three charges of embezzlement of property, bribery, and violation of credit agency loan regulations. If convicted, she could face the death penalty at most.
According to Vietnamese law, the death penalty is for serious embezzlement, and the sentence can be reduced to life imprisonment if at least three-quarters of the amount can be returned.
In addition, the Supreme People's Procuratorate of Vietnam indicted 85 other defendants, including Truong My Lan's husband, Hong Kong real estate developer Chu Liji, and leading cadres of Saigon Commercial Bank, the former Central Bank, the former General Inspection Office, and the former National Audit Office, on charges of abuse of power in the performance of official duties, dereliction of duty and responsibility causing serious consequences, violation of the regulations on the operation of credit institutions and the relevant regulations of the National Bank, and the relevant regulations of the National Bank.
Of the 78 defendants who appeared in court on March 5, eight of whom have absconded, including two Chinese, have issued international arrest warrants for the fugitives.
It is reported that up to 10 prosecutors and nearly 200 lawyers will participate in the trial. The police sorted out a total of 6 metric tons of documents in 104 boxes, containing nearly 2,500 documents and 1 million notes. The lawsuit is expected to last until April 29, the longest trial in Vietnam's history.
The trial in Ms. Zhang's case is "unprecedented," with thousands expected to be summoned and more than 200 lawyers involved in the proceedings, media said. This is not only the largest financial fraud ever recorded in Vietnam, but could also be one of the largest in Asia.
Source: Interface News, Yangcheng Evening News, etc