Hotspot Engine Project Vietnam's largest ever money laundering case opened at the Ho Chi Minh City Court on Tuesday (March 5), Vietnam's richest woman and chairman of Vietnam's real estate developer VTP Group, Truong My Lan, accused of embezzling more than $12 billion, as well as as 85 defendants, including former employees of the Central Bank of Vietnam and **former**. According to the Vietnam News Agency, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court indicted the first defendant, Truong My Lan, on three charges of property, bribery and violation of credit agency loan regulations. If convicted, she will be sentenced to death or imprisonment.
In addition, the Supreme People's Procuratorate of Vietnam indicted 85 other defendants, including Truong My Lan's husband, Hong Kong real estate developer Chu Liji, and leading cadres of Saigon Commercial Bank, the former ** Bank, the former ** Bank, the former ** General Inspection Office, and the former State Audit Office for a number of crimes, including abuse of power in the performance of official duties, dereliction of duty and responsibility causing serious consequences, violation of the regulations on the operation of credit institutions and the relevant regulations of the State Bank, and the relevant regulations of the National Bank.
A total of 78 accused appeared in court on Tuesday, eight of whom were absconding, including two Chinese,** and international arrest warrants were issued for the fugitives.
Truong My Lan, 67, is suspected of defrauding the equivalent of 3% of Vietnam's GDP in 2022 through Ghost Company, bribery*** and the Saigon Commercial Bank, which she illegally controls. She is accused of setting up a fake loan application between January 1, 2012 and October 7, 2022, to withdraw cash from the bank, causing heavy losses to unsuspecting bank bondholders.
* It has been confirmed that as many as 42,000 people have been killed in this case. The massive scam shocked the nation, triggering hundreds of events in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, a rarity in Communist-ruled Vietnam.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Law Daily, as many as 10 prosecutors and nearly 200 lawyers will participate in the trial. **A total of 6 metric tons of documents were collated, packed in 104 boxes, containing nearly 2,500 documents and 1 million notes. The interrogation could take up to two months, making it the longest ever in Vietnam.
Dozens of vans escorted dozens of defendants to the courthouse early that morning, according to a release from Vietnam's National Defense on Tuesday, which was heavily guarded inside and outside the courthouse.
In recent years, Vietnam has cracked down corruption and business elites. Since 2021, more than 4,400 people have been prosecuted in more than 1,700** cases, including Vietnamese beverage tycoon and chairman of the new hip fat group, Tran Gui Thanh, and his two daughters, who are accused of embezzling $31.5 million.