HANOI: A Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death for fraud totaling $27 billion will no longer face execution, her lawyer said Wednesday, as the country abolished capital punishment for eight crimes, including property embezzlement.
Property developer Truong My Lan’s lawyer Giang Hong Thanh said that her death penalty “will be converted to life imprisonment... I informed Ms. Lan this morning, she is very happy.”
Vietnam on Wednesday abolished the death penalty for eight crimes including espionage, graft and attempting to overthrow the government, according to state media.
Lan, 68, was convicted last year of swindling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) – which prosecutors said she controlled – and sentenced to death for fraud with damages totaling $27 billion – equivalent to around six percent of the country’s GDP.
She appealed the verdict in a month-long trial, but in December the court in Ho Chi Minh City determined that there was “no basis” to reduce her sentence.
