Ms. Truong My Lan burst into tears and said her last words. There was no mercy and she was sentenced to death.

On the morning of October 11, the trial of Truong My Lan (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat) and her accomplices continued with the debate. In her supplementary defense, defendant Truong My Lan argued that the life sentence proposed by the prosecutor was too harsh.

At the end of the supplementary defense, the owner of Van Thinh Phat cried and asked the panel of judges to consider reducing the sentence for her and 33 accomplices in the case so that they could soon return to their families and rebuild their lives.

In response, the People's Procuracy said that the indictment and charges against the defendants had fully considered the circumstances of the case. At the same time, the representative of the prosecution agency affirmed that Ms. Truong My Lan committed the crime with sophisticated tricks and appropriated more than 30,000 billion VND.

Before the jury deliberated, Ms. Truong My Lan and her accomplices were given the last word. First, Ms. Lan thanked the representatives of the prosecution agencies. The owner of Van Thinh Phat said that everyone makes mistakes in life and has to pay the price, but the price she had to pay was too high.

"In my life, I have three big dreams: building an international general hospital, building social housing, and building a free school. I spent decades trying to do it, but failed at the last minute. My heart is bleeding every second. I beg the jury to consider giving me leniency under the law," Lan cried as she spoke her final words.

Next, the defendant Truong My Lan apologized to the victims. This woman said she accepted her fate, because just because of the name Truong My Lan, hundreds of families and tens of thousands of people were affected. Ms. Lan thanked the leaders of the State Bank and SCB Bank for providing data to the investigation agency to clarify the nature of the case and for supporting this bank throughout the past time.

In addition, Ms. Lan asked the panel of judges to consider her contributions to society and her efforts to remedy the consequences of the case. In addition, the defendant asked the panel of judges to reduce the sentence for her husband, sister-in-law, nephew and all other accomplices. The remaining defendants in the case presented many details to ask the panel of judges to reduce their sentences.

In this trial, Ms. Truong My Lan was accused of illegally transporting more than 4.5 billion USD (about 106,730 billion VND) across the border in 10 years; laundering more than 445,000 billion VND and defrauding 35,824 victims through the issuance of fake bonds, appropriating more than 30,869 billion VND.

During the trial, Ms. Lan said she respected all decisions of the prosecution agency and asked to find a way to remedy the situation for the victim.

In phase 1 of the case, Ms. Truong My Lan was determined to have directed her accomplices to disburse a total of more than 2,500 loans to a group of companies in the Van Thinh Phat ecosystem during the 10 years of acquiring SCB. By October 2022, Ms. Lan and Van Thinh Phat's group still had nearly 1,300 loans with an outstanding principal and interest of VND 677,000 billion. However, by the time of the first instance trial, some loans had been settled, and defendant Lan had also paid an additional amount to remedy the consequences, so she had to pay compensation of more than VND 673,800 billion.

In the previous debate, defendant Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group, stated that in 2021, Novaland approached to buy a project consisting of 1,800 hectares of clean land and the defendant sold it for VND 45,000 billion.

The defendant then met with Hai Son Company - a reputable project development unit that has implemented many projects in Long An province and completed infrastructure on over 300 hectares. Hai Son Company assessed that the project's potential could reach up to 60,000 billion VND.

However, Novaland repeatedly asked defendant Lan to reduce the price to 30,000 billion VND. Finally, the defendant agreed on the condition that Novaland would be responsible for the project packages of Tan Thanh Long An and Van Truong Phat Company worth 15,000 billion VND, and the package of Bong Sen Company worth 4,800 billion VND (Ms. Lan said this package was actually used by Novaland, not SCB). In order to compensate for the damage, the defendant agreed to reduce the price to 20,000 billion VND.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Ms. Lan to 20 years in prison for Bribery; 20 years in prison for Violating regulations on lending in the operations of credit institutions and the death penalty for Embezzlement. Combined, Ms. Lan must serve the death sentence.

Truong My Lan gave up and said her last words, her husband was praised to the skies. Minh Lợi4 months agoOn November 26, the appeal hearing of the Van Thinh Phat Group case (phase 1) continued the debate with the response of Ms. Truong My Lan. After that, the defendants were given the final say before the panel of judges deliberated.