HO CHI MINH CITY: A Vietnamese court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday for a property tycoon in a multibillion-dollar fraud case — but said her life could still be spared if she paid back three quarters of the assets she embezzled.

Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted this year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) — which prosecutors said she controlled — and sentenced to death for fraud totalling $27 billion.

She appealed the verdict in a month-long trial, but on Tuesday the court in Ho Chi Minh City determined that there was “no basis” to reduce her sentence. However, there is still a chance for Lan to escape the death penalty.

The court said on Tuesday that if she returns three quarters of the stolen assets, her sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment. Her husband Eric Chu Nap Kee, a Hong Kong billionaire, had his sentence reduced from nine years in prison to seven.

Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in SCB lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024