HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – A top Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death on Thursday in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated $27 billion in damages.
After a five-week trial in business hub Ho Chi Minh City, Lan and 85 others face verdicts and sentencing on charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to appropriation and violations of banking law. She and the others were arrested as part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite in recent years.“In my desperation, I thought of death,” she said, according to state media.
Police have identified around 42,000 victims of the scandal, which has shocked the Southeast Asian country. The woman who was offered the bribe — Do Thi Nhan, the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team — said during the trial the cash was handed to her in Styrofoam boxes by the former CEO of SCB, Vo Tan Van.