[ti:Vietnamese Woman Accused of $12.5 Billion Fraud]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-03-06]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]A major property investor in Vietnam, Truong My Lan, is on trial over an accusation of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion. 
[00:17.53]That is nearly 3 percent of the country's 2022 total economic production and the largest financial fraud case on record.
[00:32.20]Lan is the 66-year-old head of the property company Van Thinh Phat. 
[00:40.46]The company was one of Vietnam's biggest property companies and its projects include homes, offices, hotels, and business centers.
[00:55.16]A government document says she reportedly used "thousands of ghost companies," paid bribes to government officials, and broke banking laws.
[01:11.15]She is accused of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank from 2012 to 2022 and using it to steal $12.5 billion, the document adds.
[01:30.37]Another 85 people are being charged in the case, including a former State Bank of Vietnam official accused of accepting $5.2 million in bribes. 
[01:46.78]Lan was arrested in October 2022 and could be executed if found guilty.
[01:56.66]Officials brought Lan to a Ho Chi Minh City courtroom on Tuesday morning. 
[02:04.28]Her husband Eric Chu Nap-kee, who works in property investment in Hong Kong, was also asked to appear in the case, VN Express reported.
[02:20.19]Lan's arrest is part of an ongoing anti-corruption drive that brought thousands of officials and business leaders under investigation.
[02:33.88]In January 2023, then-President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and two top officials resigned for "political responsibility" of corruption dealings during the pandemic.
[02:52.09]But observers said the anti-corruption drive has also worsened Vietnam's economic outlook and concerned foreign investors. 
[03:04.90]It came at a time when the Southeast Asian nation has been trying to get businesses to move from China.
[03:16.26]Linh Nguyen is the lead researcher for Washington D.C.-based Control Risks.
[03:24.40]She said it is the size of Lan's alleged fraud that has been surprising.
[03:32.43]"More than 3 percent of the GDP is very large," Nguyen said. GDP, or gross domestic product, is how much a country produces in one year. 
[03:49.16]She added that it also raised questions about whether other banks and businesses had "done the done the same (and) just haven't been discovered."
[04:02.33]The anti-corruption drive has also resulted in Vietnam's government slowing down. 
[04:10.65]A report from Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute says that public officials are concerned about being investigated and are avoiding their responsibilities.
[04:27.59]And Nguyen said that investors in banking, finance, and property investment are also taking a "wait and see" position at the moment.
[04:42.23]Last year, local media reported that 1,300 property companies withdrew from the market and developers have been offering price reductions and gold to bring in buyers.
[04:59.98]But Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's top politician, said in November that the anti-corruption fight would "continue for the long term."
[05:16.83]I'm Gregory Stachel.