https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/vietnam-tycoons-jail-term-cut-to-30-years-in-1966865.html

A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life in a $17-billion money laundering case had her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal on Monday after she claimed what happened was "an accident"

Ho Chi Minh City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Apr, 2025) A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life in a $17-billion money laundering case had her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal on Monday after she claimed what happened was "an accident".

Property developer Truong My Lan had already lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case in which she was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and fraud amounting to $27 billion.

The appeal court ruled there was no basis to reduce her sentence but said she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three-quarters of the stolen assets.

Four months later, an appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City ruled on Monday that a life sentence she was handed for three crimes during a second trial in October would be reduced to 30 years.

"Lan played the major role... (but) we also take into consideration the amount of money that Lan has spent on overcoming the consequences," judge Pham Cong Muoi said following discussions during the appeal about how her assets may be used to compensate victims of her crimes.

Prosecutors said she had repaid a quarter of the $1.2 billion she defrauded from thousands of bond investors.

Lan's husband Chu Lap Co did not appeal, but the judging panel concluded that his two-year sentence should be cut by half after he paid back the $1.2 million he was found to have laundered.

In her final words before the court last week, Lan described what happened as "an accident".

"Since being jailed, I have tried my best... to seek the best solutions to (deal with my) projects and properties," she was quoted as saying by state media.