Property tycoon sentenced to death in Vietnam

A property tycoon has been sentenced to death in Vietnam after the biggest fraud trial in the country's history.

Truong My Lan was sentenced on Thursday by a court in Ho Chi Minh City.

The 67-year-old chair of the company Van Thinh Phat was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5bn - nearly 3% of the country's GDP in 2022.

Lan and her accomplices were charged with illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 to siphon off these funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials.

Lan's arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam.

The crackdown, dubbed "blazing furnace", has led to hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business leaders facing prosecution or being forced to step down.

Lan will appeal against her verdict, a family member told Reuters before it was issued.

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