Journal De Malte - Vietnam death row tycoon promises to turn properties into 'golden goose'

Property developer Truong My Lan lost an appeal in December against the death penalty in a case in which she was found guilty 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 paid back three-quarters of the amount stolen.

In a letter sent from jail to a state-controlled committee handling her properties, Lan said her assets have been significantly undervalued, causing potential losses to the state and affecting her rights, her lawyer Giang Hong Thanh told AFP.

Lan said the government-appointed company that valued 726 of her assets, several of them real estate projects in prime areas of Vietnam's biggest cities, had estimated their worth at around $9.7 billion.

But Lan argued in the wake of new land price guidelines issued by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, where most of the projects are situated, their value had likely increased by 3-5 times.

She added that if her other 440 assets were valued, the state could collect another $7.7 billion at least.

"I believe that with my 30-year experience in the real estate business and my thorough legal understanding... I could turn most of the assets into a golden goose so that the state can recover the costs," Lan wrote in her letter, pleading for authorities to allow her involvement.

Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in SCB lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.

In a second appeal trial in April this year, Lan's life sentence in a separate $17-billion money laundering case was cut to 30 years.

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

G.Grima--JdM