Vietnam mogul's jail time cut to 30 years

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 yesterday after she claimed what happened was “an accident”.

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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 yesterday that a life sentence she was handed for three crimes during a second trial in October would be reduced to 30 years.