HCM City (VNA) - The appeal court for the first phase of the case involving property developer Van Thinh Phat Group and Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) kept the death sentence for Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of the group, unchanged on December 3.
In the first-instance trial, Lan received a life sentence for "embezzlement,” 20 years in prison for "bribery" and 16 years for "violating lending regulations in credit institution activities," with the combined sentence being the death penalty.
The court upheld the requirement for Lan to compensate SCB for 1,243 outstanding loans as of October 17, 2022, amounting to 673.8 trillion VND (26.52 billion USD).
Besides Lan, a total of 47 defendants sought reduced sentences during the appeal trial that commenced in early November.
The court also rejected the appeal of Do Thi Nhan, chief banking inspector of the central bank, who received a life sentence for accepting a 5.2 million USD bribe from Lan to conceal SCB's financial problems.
However, it accepted to reduce the sentences for several defendants, including Lan's husband, Eric Chu, whose sentence was brought down from nine to seven years, and her niece, Truong Hue Van, whose sentence was cut from 17 to 13 years for their involvement in the case.
Nguyen Cao Tri, former Chairman of Capella Holdings, had his sentence reduced from eight to six years for defrauding Lan of 1 trillion VND.
Several former senior leaders of SCB and Van Thinh Phat also received reduced sentences due to their efforts to mitigate circumstances.
Recent statistics indicated that at least 42,000 victims, who had invested in Van Thinh Phat bonds offered by the bank, suffered substantial financial losses, resulting in nationwide shock and unprecedented protests from affected individuals./.
