Ms. Truong My Lan Appeals the Death Sentence, Requests Reconsideration of Allegations of Property Appropriation at SCB

In the context of the case that shocked public opinion, Truong My Lan, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Van Thinh Phat Group, sent an appeal from the detention center to appeal the first instance verdict, which affirmed that she did not commit any crime. took money from Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) but only participated in the process of restructuring this bank.

On April 26, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City officially received the appeal from Ms. Lan. In the application, Ms. Lan stated that she was involved in the restructuring process of SCB but the allegations of asset appropriation were unfounded. She asked the appellate court to review the case, especially the crimes for which she was convicted in the first instance trial.

This is just part of a wave of appeals related to the case, with many other defendants also submitting applications to the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City, requesting a review of the sentence they consider unfair. equal or too heavy.

The first instance trial, which took place on the afternoon of April 11, announced the death penalty for Ms. Truong My Lan, accusing her of three main crimes: embezzlement of property, bribery and violation of regulations on lending. loans in the operations of credit institutions. The trial panel concluded that Ms. Lan did not show remorse and did not admit to committing the crime according to the indictment.

The investigation showed that Truong My Lan used her power as a major shareholder at SCB to manipulate and control the bank's operations, thereby serving her personal purposes. The indictment describes her as having created and used many false loan documents to withdraw money from SCB through a series of sophisticated tricks, thereby causing serious damage to the bank and the State.

In addition, the first instance judgment also forced Ms. Lan to pay a huge amount of compensation to SCB, equivalent to the outstanding balance of 1,243 loans until October 17, 2022 - the date the case was prosecuted. The court also decided to distrain and temporarily seize a series of assets related to Ms. Lan and other defendants to ensure judgment enforcement.

While Ms. Lan and the other defendants are waiting for the appeal trial, public opinion is still divided about the severity of the sentence as well as the evidence presented during the trial. The question of fairness and transparency in the Vietnamese legal system has once again been raised, while this case continues to be closely monitored.