1 00:00:03,959 --> 00:00:06,795 Hello, I'm Regina Vaid and welcome to this hour. 2 00:00:06,795 --> 00:00:08,400 In the past few minutes, 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,859 a court in Vietnam has sentenced a wealthy proper developer to death 4 00:00:12,859 --> 00:00:15,719 for defrauding a bank of billions of dollars. 5 00:00:15,719 --> 00:00:18,359 67-year-old Truong My Lan was found guilty 6 00:00:18,359 --> 00:00:20,640 of embezzlement bribing State officials 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,680 and violating Bank lending regulations 8 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,260 after she used her hidden ownership of the Saigon Commercial Bank 9 00:00:27,260 --> 00:00:31,919 to channel $44 billion of loans to her own companies. 10 00:00:31,919 --> 00:00:32,608 It's been described 11 00:00:32,608 --> 00:00:36,360 as one of the greatest Brank frauds in history. 12 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,241 Well, for more on this, we can go straight to Bangkok 13 00:00:39,241 --> 00:00:40,960 and join our Southeast Asia 14 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,190 correspondent Jonathan Head. 15 00:00:43,190 --> 00:00:45,399 First of all, Jonathan, if you could just tell us 16 00:00:45,399 --> 00:00:48,251 a little bit more about what the court said today 17 00:00:48,251 --> 00:00:50,559 and the background to this case. 18 00:00:51,349 --> 00:00:55,759 Well the the Court's been giving enormous amounts of detail about this case. 19 00:00:55,759 --> 00:00:57,570 Through its five weeks, 20 00:00:57,570 --> 00:01:00,120 so everyone in Vietnam knows a lot about it, 21 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:01,920 not that's quite unusual there. 22 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:02,760 They've wanted the public 23 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:04,228 to know about this case. 24 00:01:04,228 --> 00:01:08,320 It is extraordinary the amounts of money are absolutely sterling. 25 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:11,491 We're talking about a significant junk of Vietnam's GDP 26 00:01:11,491 --> 00:01:13,269 that this woman was able to siphon off 27 00:01:13,269 --> 00:01:17,591 over 11 years of through these secretly channeled loans 28 00:01:17,591 --> 00:01:19,509 that went through a whole bunch of front companies 29 00:01:19,509 --> 00:01:21,610 and proxies to her own companies. 30 00:01:21,610 --> 00:01:24,020 The prosecutors believe that 31 00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:27,505 of that 44 billion perhaps 27 billion dollars 32 00:01:27,505 --> 00:01:29,290 may never be recovered. 33 00:01:29,290 --> 00:01:31,020 That is a staggering loss 34 00:01:31,020 --> 00:01:34,314 and will be very very tough for the State Bank 35 00:01:34,314 --> 00:01:37,399 to make up in terms of saving the bank. 36 00:01:37,399 --> 00:01:41,449 Really the authorities have sort of blamed Truong My Lan 37 00:01:41,449 --> 00:01:43,238 and have talked about the way 38 00:01:43,238 --> 00:01:44,759 in which she was bribing officials 39 00:01:44,759 --> 00:01:48,110 and the kind of sophistication of this network 40 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,640 and really it is part of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign 41 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,149 that's been going for several years 42 00:01:54,149 --> 00:01:55,540 led by the communist authorities 43 00:01:55,540 --> 00:01:57,490 whose say they're determined to stamp it out 44 00:01:57,490 --> 00:01:58,857 but of course it does raise a lot of questions 45 00:01:58,857 --> 00:02:00,738 which is how was it that this woman. 46 00:02:00,738 --> 00:02:01,960 She's very high-profile. 47 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,879 She's one of the biggest property owners in Vietnam. 48 00:02:04,879 --> 00:02:07,879 How was she able to do that for 11 years 49 00:02:07,879 --> 00:02:09,440 and of course officially the authorities say 50 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,148 well she was paying off this person and that 51 00:02:11,148 --> 00:02:11,854 and hiding this and that 52 00:02:11,854 --> 00:02:13,162 but it is extraordinary that 53 00:02:13,162 --> 00:02:14,092 it went on for 11 years 54 00:02:14,092 --> 00:02:14,646 without being stopped 55 00:02:14,646 --> 00:02:17,259 and I think those questions still hang over 56 00:02:17,259 --> 00:02:20,239 whether the Vietnamese authorities are capable 57 00:02:20,239 --> 00:02:22,879 of reigning in this kind of fraud. 58 00:02:22,879 --> 00:02:25,360 And Jonathan you say that this was a trial 59 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,859 that was followed by so many people in Vietnam 60 00:02:27,859 --> 00:02:30,319 and Truong My Lan is a well-known 61 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:31,950 property developer in the country 62 00:02:31,950 --> 00:02:34,199 but now she faces the death penalty. 63 00:02:34,199 --> 00:02:36,879 That itself is extraordinary. 64 00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:39,082 Normally the death penalty is not usually 65 00:02:39,082 --> 00:02:40,413 handed down on women 66 00:02:40,413 --> 00:02:42,866 but I think this case was so exceptional 67 00:02:42,866 --> 00:02:44,740 in terms of its scale and the damages 68 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:46,640 it's done to Vietnam's finances. 69 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:47,640 They probably felt 70 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:49,120 they needed to make an example of her. 71 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,280 They may also be trying to encourage her 72 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,584 to give as much money back as they can get her to do. 73 00:02:54,584 --> 00:02:55,480 This is something 74 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,480 the other 80 defendants in court today 75 00:02:58,480 --> 00:02:59,340 have largely done. 76 00:02:59,340 --> 00:03:01,032 They're all more minor, of course, 77 00:03:01,032 --> 00:03:02,080 but these are all the people 78 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:03,693 accused of conspiring with her 79 00:03:03,693 --> 00:03:06,331 including, for example, a Chief Inspector of the State Bank 80 00:03:06,331 --> 00:03:08,570 who was bribed 5 million dollar 81 00:03:08,570 --> 00:03:09,640 according to prosecutors. 82 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,288 In order to look the other way, 83 00:03:11,288 --> 00:03:14,013 they've all pleaded guilty and offered to bring back 84 00:03:14,013 --> 00:03:15,390 as much money as they can. 85 00:03:15,390 --> 00:03:16,959 I think the state believes that 86 00:03:16,959 --> 00:03:19,344 Truong My Lan must have far more assets 87 00:03:19,344 --> 00:03:21,099 that she can return to the state 88 00:03:21,099 --> 00:03:22,800 to try and make up this massive hole 89 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,519 in this bank's finances. 90 00:03:24,519 --> 00:03:27,120 Okay, Jonathan Head, in Bangkok 91 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,120 watching that huge trial in Vietnam 92 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:30,840 and that verdict for thank you very much 93 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:32,600 and Jonathan's written an analysis piece 94 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:34,552 on the BBC News website with more background too.