Bloomberg News :
For several years, Truong My Lan held meetings on the 39th floor of the sleek Times Square tower in the heart of Vietnam’s commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City.
There, in a room that acted as her command center, she allegedly wove a $12 billion tapestry of fraud and corruption, according to the police reports that form the basis of a court case against her.
Authorities allege there were “ghost” companies, payoffs to government officials and a bank she illegally controlled that disbursed loans to herself and her allies worth about 11% of the nation’s 2022 GDP.
Her personal driver secretly shuttled millions of dollars in cash across the city’s chaotic streets, police say. Twenty-four government inspectors – whose jobs are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the banking system – are alleged to have taken Lan’s money to cover up violations.
The woman behind Van Thinh Phat Group, one of Vietnam’s most moneyed real estate empires, now awaits a trial starting on March 5 – and a possible death sentence or imprisonment if found guilty. More arrests are expected in a probe that has contributed to a virtual freeze in the nation’s bond and real estate markets, as bureaucrats fearful of being swept up in police investigations slow-walk approving legal documents.
