In April earlier this year, Truong My Lan was sentenced to death after being found guilty of embezzling $12 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), with prosecutors arguing the total damages caused by the crime actually amount to $27 billion.

The 68-year-old founder of real-estate developer Van Thinh Phat appealed the sentence, however, on Tuesday (December 3), judges in a Ho Chi Minh City court denied her appeal.

During her trial, the court heard that between the years 2012 and 2022 Lan set up fake loan applications to withdraw money – including many people’s lifelong savings – from the bank.

Her loans totalled a staggering $44 billion – 93 percent of all of the money lent by the bank.

Lan was one of 85 other members connected to SCB who were tried and she was found guilty of not only embezzlement but bribery and violations of banking rules, too.

The total amount she was found guilty of having embezzled was $12 billion, with prosecutors arguing that $27 billion was misappropriated.

The verdict read: “The defendant’s actions […] eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] party and state.”

Lan was also sentenced to life in October in a separate case having been found guilty of money laundering.

She tried to appeal the death sentence, pleading for a more ‘lenient and humane approach,’ however, the appeal was denied. But there is a way Lan could save her own life and it comes down to a specific clause under Vietnamese law.

If she can pay back $9 billion, she could be spared her life (-STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The lifeline

A Vietnamese law means if Lan can raise 75 percent of the money she stole and pay it back then she could see her sentence reduced.

Granted, she’d still received life in prison, however, she’d ultimately escape with her life. The total amount of three quarters of what she embezzled is a hefty $9 billion.

Speaking to AP News, Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said that Lan would need to obtain another review of her case or receive a presidential pardon to reduce her sentence, adding: “Moreover, if she repays at least three-quarters of the misappropriated funds, the court may consider commuting her sentence to life imprisonment.”

Prior to Lan’s appeal being rejected, lawyer Nguyen Huy Thiep told the BBC: “The total value of her holdings actually exceeds the required compensation amount.

“Truong My Lan hopes the court can create the most favorable conditions for her to continue making compensation.”