Vietnam tycoon on death row has life sentence cut to 30 years in laundering case

A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life in a US$17-billion money laundering case had her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal on Monday after she claimed what happened was “an accident”.

Property developer Truong My Lan had already lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case in which she was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and fraud amounting to US$27 billion.

The appeal court ruled there was no basis to reduce her sentence, but said she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three-quarters of the stolen assets.

Four months later, an appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday ruled that a life sentence she was handed for three crimes during a second trial in October would be reduced to 30 years.

“Lan played the major role … [but] we also take into consideration the amount of money that Lan has spent on overcoming the consequences,” judge Pham Cong Muoi said following discussions earlier in the appeal about how her assets may be used to compensate victims of her crimes.

In her final words before the court last week, Lan described what happened as “an accident”.