XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh.tv-show, alt.atheism.satire

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 02:52:59 -0000 (UTC)
Rick <privatemail@protonmail.com> wrote:

<http://apnews.com>
Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its >largest-ever fraud case
By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL

April 11, 2024

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced >Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam
in the country's largest financial fraud case ever, state media
Vietnam Net said.

The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was >formally charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion - nearly 3%
of the country's 2022 GDP.

Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between
2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 >billion to the bank, reported state media VnExpress. The court asked
her to compensate the bank $26.9 million.

Despite mitigating circumstances - this was a first-time offense and
Lan participated in charity activities - the court attributed its
harsh sentence to the seriousness of the case, saying Lan was at the
helm of an orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that
had serious consequences with no possibility of the money being
recovered, VnExpress said.

Her actions "not only violate the property management rights of
individuals and organizations but also push SCB (Saigon Joint Stock >Commercial Bank) into a state of special control; eroding people's
trust in the leadership of the Party and State," VnExpress quoted
the judgement as saying.

Her niece, Truong Hue Van, the chief executive of Van Thinh Phat, was >sentenced to 17 years in prison for aiding her aunt.

Lan and her family established the Van Thing Phat company in 1992
after Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favor of a more
market-oriented approach that was open to foreigners. She had
started out helping her mother, a Chinese businesswoman, to sell
cosmetics in Ho Chi Minh City's oldest market, according to state
media Tien Phong.

Van Thinh Phat would grow to become one of Vietnam's richest real
estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, >offices, hotels and shopping centers. This made her a key player in
the country's financial industry. She orchestrated the 2011 merger
of the beleaguered SCB bank with two other lenders in coordination
with Vietnam's central bank.

The court found that she used this approach to tap SCB for cash. She >indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank - a charge she denied -
and approved thousands of loans to "ghost companies," according to >government documents. These loans then found their way back to her,
state media VNExpress reported, citing the court's findings.

She then bribed officials to cover her tracks, it added.

Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced Thursday
to life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.

Lan's arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an
ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since
2022. The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest >echelons of Vietnamese politics. Former President Vo Van Thuong
resigned in March after being implicated in the campaign.

But Lan's trial shocked the nation. Analysts said the scale of the
scam raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had
similarly erred, dampening Vietnam's economic outlook and making
foreign investors jittery at a time when Vietnam has been trying to >position itself as the ideal home for businesses trying to pivot
their supply chains away from China.

The real estate sector in Vietnam has been hit particularly hard. An >estimated 1,300 property firms withdrew from the market in 2023,
developers have been offering discounts and gold as gifts to attract >buyers, and despite rents for mixed-use properties known in
Southeast Asia as shop houses falling by a third in Ho Chi Minh
City, many in the city center are still empty, according to state
media.

In November, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong,
Vietnam's top politician, said that the anti-corruption fight would >"continue for the long term."

This is what Trump deserves.

To destroy commies?

I guess so, you going to join in so we can make it happen faster then?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)