HANOI (AFP) – A Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for fraud totalling USD27 billion will face a verdict on October 17 in a related case where she has been accused of money laundering, her lawyer said on Friday.
Chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat Truong My Lan was found guilty in April of swindling cash from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, and sentenced to death.
Prosecutors are now pushing for a life sentence for Lan who – along with 33 defendants – has been charged with money laundering, illegal cross-border trafficking of cash and fraud, state newspaper Tuoi Tre said.
Her lawyer Phan Trung Hoai told AFP the court in Ho Chi Minh City would deliver its verdict on October 17, following a month-long trial.
Lan, who is appealing her death sentence, argued in court that a life sentence would be too harsh, according to Tuoi Tre.
“The defendant has three big dreams in life: building an international general hospital, building social housing and building free schools,” Lan reportedly said, referring to herself in the third person.
“The defendant spent decades attempting to carry out the plan but failed at the last minute,” she said, adding that she was “not a bad person”.
