Vietnamese billionaire gets death sentence for шахрай 44 billion fraud
Kyiv • UNN
68-year-old businesswoman Chiong Mi lan lost an appeal against the death sentence for large-scale bank fraud. It can avoid the death penalty if it returns $9 billion of the stolen funds to the state.
Chiang Milan has lost an appeal against a death sentence for organizing one of the largest bank frauds in the world. Now she has a chance to avoid execution if she returns 75% of the stolen funds.
Далі йде
According to Vietnamese law, if Chiang Milan pays $9 billion, which is three-quarters of the 1 12 billion she embezzled, her death sentence will be commuted to life in prison.
In April, the court found that she secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank, the country's fifth-largest bank. For more than a decade, it has taken out loans and withdrawals through a network of shell companies, embezzling a total of 4 44 billion.
The prosecutor's office says that of this amount, 2 27 billion was misappropriated, and 1 12 billion was stolen, which is one of the most serious financial crimes in Vietnam, for which she was sentenced to death.
The shocking death sentence for a woman for an economic crime in Vietnam is extremely rare and has caused a significant response. On Tuesday, the court confirmed that there are no grounds for commuting the sentence.
About whether Chiong Mi lan can still apply for clemency to the president. During the appeal hearing, the businesswoman pleaded guilty and expressed shame for the damage caused to the state. She stated that she wants to return the stolen funds as soon as possible.
What is known about Chiong Mi lan
Chiong Mi lan was born to a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City. Her business started with selling cosmetics on the market. In the 1980s, she began buying up real estate and by the 1990s had become the owner of an impressive portfolio of hotels and restaurants.
At the time of her arrest, she was the head of one of Vietnam's largest real estate companies, Van Thinh Phat Group. The verdict was the culmination of the burning furnaces anti-corruption campaign led by then-Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Chong.
Frozen assets and refund attempts
According to the lawyers, Chiang Milan's property exceeds the required amount for compensation, but the sale of these assets is difficult. These include luxury real estate in Ho Chi Minh City, stocks and stakes in businesses. At the same time, more than a thousand assets are still frozen by the authorities.
Lawyers emphasize that under the death sentence, she cannot effectively sell the property. If the sentence was commuted to life in prison, it would make her task easier. However, the court was not convinced by those arguments.
Vietnam strictly controls information about the execution of death sentences. According to human rights organizations, more than 1,000 people are awaiting execution in the country.
