Vietnam death row tycoon faces money laundering trial
PEXELS
HO CHI MINH CITY—A Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion goes on trial Thursday in a linked case accused of money laundering.
Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty in April of swindling cash from the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade in one of the biggest corruption cases in history.
Lan and 33 other defendants now face new charges of money laundering and illegal cross-border trafficking of cash, in a trial in Ho Chi Minh City that is expected to last a month.
Around 36,000 people have been identified as victims of the SCB fraud, which shocked the communist nation and prompted rare protests from those who lost their money.
