HO CHI MINH CITY – The second trial of Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan on fresh fraud charges is scheduled to begin on Sept 19, underscoring the new Communist Party chief’s determination to press ahead with a crackdown on corruption.
The 67-year-old Lan will go on trial in Ho Chi Minh City, along with 33 co-defendants. They face charges of alleged fraudulent appropriation of property, money laundering, and the illegal transport of currency across international borders in a trial expected to last until Oct 19.
Lan is in good health and has been cooperating with the investigation, according to one of her lawyers.
Before her downfall, the chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group gained a reputation for controlling some of the most prestigious properties in the nation’s commercial hub.
In April, she was sentenced to death for her role in Vietnam’s largest-ever fraud case, after being found guilty of embezzling more than US$12 billion (S$15.5 billion) from Saigon Commercial Bank between February 2018 and October 2022.
The tycoon is one of the highest-profile targets of the Vietnamese government’s years-long anti-corruption crackdown, known as the “blazing furnace” campaign and spearheaded by the late Communist Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
His successor, Mr To Lam, who is also the country’s President, has said he will “resolutely” continue the aggressive push that has touched all aspects of society and led to the detention of scores of senior officials and business executives.
The fallout continues to have an impact on Vietnam’s real estate sector.
It will take two to three years to return to its pre-pandemic growth rate, according to a recent BMI Research note. The industry has been hit by regulatory and legal bottlenecks, liquidity problems and a corporate bond market freeze amid government probes of fraud and real estate
