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Corruption purge and tycoon’s $16 billion bank fraud trial shake Vietnam
One of the world’s biggest embezzlement cases is part of a crackdown that could upset foreign investment.
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Property tycoon Truong My Lan arriving at a court in Ho Chi Minh City on March 5.
PHOTO: AFP
A. Anantha Lakshmi
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In 2021, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy jumped at an offer by Vietnam’s Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) to invest in a new savings product offering high interest rates. The former factory worker did not hesitate to move her entire savings of 800 million dong (S$43,360) to the new scheme, believing that her money would be safe with the state-licensed bank.
But unbeknown to Madam Thuy, her money was invested in bonds that Vietnamese authorities said were illegally channelling money to property tycoon Truong My Lan in what they said was the biggest fraud the country had ever seen.
