Transcript of Vietnamese tycoon loses death row appeal over world’s biggest bank fraud | BBC News

A court in Vietnam has upheld a death sentence for a real estate tycoon, Thruung Mai Lan, after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezelment and bribery. She was sentenced to death in April for her role in a financial fraud worth more than $12 billion. Let's talk to our Southeast Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head. Jonathan, just tell us what happened in court.

I think no one's too surprised by this. Thruung Mai Lan and her lawyers had pleaded for leniency humanity and humane treatment. The charge of embezelment, which carries a death penalty, has only applied to people in the private sector in Vietnam since 2017. Her lawyer say a lot of the things that she's accused of doing happened before that time. But Vietnam is still in the middle of a very long, eight-year-long now, campaign against corruption called burning Furnaces. The Communist Party has led it because of their fear that the pervasive corruption in the country was hammering its legitimacy. We've seen so many people brought to court, gone to jail, many senior officials, even right to the very top of the party, being disciplined or losing their jobs. And hers is the most spectacular of all. It's probably the biggest bank fraud that the world has ever seen. And so The judges were in no mood for lenience. He said there was no basis to her appeal. But remember, under Vietnamese law, under this particular charge of embezelment, if she can pay back 75% of what she's stolen or taken, then her sentence would automatically be commuted. Now, that, of course, means she's now in a race to raise that money by selling off properties, selling off states and companies.

It's a huge sum of money in order to hit that target before her execution gets carried out. But executions are very tardy in Vietnam. People typically wait many, many years on death road, so it's likely she has enough time to do that.

Jonathan, how much is there the feeling that a case like hers has been made an example of by the authorities in their fight against corruption?

I don't think there's any doubt about that, and I think the authorities wanted to be seen that way. It is a bit of a shock to the system, even in a country where there have been a lot of scandals, lots of companies being hammered by corruption. This one really stood out. I mean, Trumilan essentially turns the country's fifth, the biggest lender, into her own personal piggy bank. You're not supposed, under Vietnamese law, to be able to control more than 5% of a bank, but she managed to do it. We control maybe 90% of it through shell companies and just took out massive loans that were then funneled through this incredible network of companies that she had, of shadow companies. Great sacs of cash were taken out of the bank by her chauffeur. Because it's so big, I think they needed to make this case an example. They'd been much more public about the details of this case and about the court cases than they have with previous corruption cases. I think that's also why the judges were not really going to entertain her, please for leniency today. I think the question really is, Is the Communist government getting a handle on corruption?

Because Tromilan looted this bank for 10 years before anyone spotted it. That shows an extraordinarily weak regulatory framework for the banks in Vietnam. The economy, of course, is one of the world's great success stories. It's a favored place for investment now. It's an alternative to China for people looking for supply chain security. But this problem of corruption is still there, and I think the authorities have still not quite got a handle on it.

Jonathan, thanks very much. Jonathan Head.