newsinsightplus.com
- 1980s
- 1990AttributioniPlayerWho
- April 11, 2024
- 0 Comments
BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaTruong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraudPublished29 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Truong My Lan is accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 yearsBy Jonathan Head & Thu BuiIn BangkokIt was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen. Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan was convicted for taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors said $27bn may never be recovered.The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved. The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges. “There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong. A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party. Image source, Getty ImagesThe campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country’s richest women has joined their ranks. Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community. She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property. All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic. By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank. Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial. They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank’s lending. Vietnam secret document warns of ‘hostile forces’Xi in Vietnam to rekindle a love-hate relationshipUS denies Cold War with China in historic Vietnam visitAccording to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement. That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam’s largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes. She was also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. One of those who was tried used to be a chief inspector at the central bank, who was accused of accepting a $5m bribe.The mass of officially sanctioned publicity about the case channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose haggard, unmade-up appearance in court was in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people had seen of her in the past. But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.Image source, Getty Images”I am puzzled,” says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Because it wasn’t a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations. “It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.”What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away. “Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there.”At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen. He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party’s conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party’s hold on political power. But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States. Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.”That’s the paradox,” says Le Hong Hiep. “Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more.”Related TopicsVietnamAsiaMore on this storyVietnam’s president out after just year in officePublished21 MarchPower shift in Vietnam as president quitsPublished17 January 2023Top StoriesBiden vows ‘ironclad’ support for Israel amid Iran attack fearsPublished10 minutes agoDazzling artwork found at ancient city of PompeiiPublished3 hours agoPressure grows to rethink rough sleeping clampdownPublished9 hours agoFeaturesHow gang violence gripped a tourist havenWhat is the minimum salary UK visa applicants need?Arizona pushes abortion to centre stage of 2024The Papers: ‘Iron clad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’All you need to know for tonight’s Bafta Games AwardsListen: How will Labour plug the gap in NHS funding?AttributionSoundsWas South Korea’s president thwarted by a spring onion?The Indian men traumatised by fighting for RussiaLocal elections 2024: Is there an election in my area?Elsewhere on the BBCA man from 1979 takes on the modern worldSurely things can’t have changed that much? Comedy starring Mike BubbinsAttributioniPlayer’You’ll never meet anybody as miraculous as Sanjeev’Get to know Supermann on Da Beat: a prominent producer, songwriter and promoter of Scottish hip hopAttributioniPlayerFrom the Hubble Telescope to Take ThatRelive the major news and music events of 1990AttributioniPlayerWho are the women that have inspired Courtney Love?The iconic singer-songwriter shares the soundtrack to her life and reflects on her influencesAttributionSoundsMost Read1Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud2Dazzling artwork found at ancient city of Pompeii3Wilson had affair while in No 10, advisers reveal4Police to re-examine Caroline Flack assault charge5Fake UK stamps blamed on Chinese-made counterfeits6US vows support for Israel amid Iran attack fears7Trial lawyer ‘repeatedly crossed line’ with rape survivor8Pressure grows over rough sleeping clampdown9Margot Robbie’s company to produce Monopoly film10’Ironclad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’
[ad_1] Truong My Lan started life as a market trader. Now, she has been convicted of stealing billions.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaPutin wants Berlin assassin Vadim Krasikov, but prisoner swap is murkyPublished10 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, BellingcatImage caption, A court found Vadim Krasikov was acting under Kremlin orders when he executed a Chechan seperatist in Berlin in 2019.By Jake LaphamBBC NewsIt is now one year since American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained on a reporting trip in Russia. His best hope of release may be Vadim Krasikov, who is sitting in a German jail, convicted of an execution that was ordered by the Kremlin.In the summer of 2013, a Moscow restaurant owner was gunned down in the Russian capital. A hooded man jumped off a bike and shot his victim twice before fleeing.Six years later, an exiled Chechen commander, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was murdered in a busy Berlin park in eerily similar circumstances, shot by a man on a bike with a silenced Glock 26 in broad daylight. The assailant was arrested after dumping a pistol and wig in the River Spree close to the Reichstag, the building housing the German parliament.A passport bearing the name “Vadim Sokolov” was found on the Berlin assassin, but authorities quickly concluded that was not his name after all.The bald, strongly built man they had arrested was actually Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national with links to the FSB, the Russian security service – and the prime suspect in the 2013 murder in Moscow.In a recent interview with US TV talk show host Tucker Carlson, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appeared to confirm reports that his country was seeking the release of the “patriot” Krasikov in exchange for American journalist Evan Gershkovich. This month marked one year since Mr Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained in Russia on espionage charges that are denied by him, his newspaper and the US government.Mr Gershkovich isn’t the only American in a Russian jail whose fate could be entwined with Krasikov’s. Former US Marine Paul Whelan and US-Russian citizen Alsu Kurmasheva are also detained in Russia on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.Image source, Reuters/EPAImage caption, Paul Whelan (L) has been in detention since 2018, Alsu Kurmasheva (C) since October last year and Evan Gershkovich since last MarchEven the late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was serving a 19-year prison sentence in Russia, was said to be part of a swap involving Krasikov before he died, according to his allies. Following the Russian election, President Putin said he had agreed to release Navalny in return “for some people” held in the West, but the White House said that was the first it had heard of any such deal.If President Putin’s price stays the same, it means the most viable way of securing the release of the detained Americans would be a complex prisoner swap for Krasikov needing the cooperation of Germany, the US and Russia.Speaking to the BBC, German politician Roderich Kiesewetter said the deal would force Berlin into “hostage diplomacy”. So why does Putin seem so desperate to get Krasikov back?State-sanctioned killingThe first clues of a possible Kremlin hand in the Berlin murder come from Krasikov’s background – or rather, the lack of one. Documents obtained by the Bellingcat investigative website show he was wanted over the 2013 Moscow murder. However, two years later, the arrest warrant was withdrawn and the “Vadim Krasikov” identity seemingly vanished into thin air.That is when “Vadim Sokolov”, age 45, appeared. In 2015 he got a passport, and, in 2019, a tax identification number. A German court concluded that this documentation could only be sanctioned by the Kremlin, and therefore that Vadim Krasikov had state support for the Berlin murder. “Russian state authorities ordered the accused to liquidate the victim,” a German presiding judge said after sentencing Krasikov to life in prison. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Germany expelled two Russian diplomats in response to the murder of Zelimkhan KhangoshviliHis victim, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was a Chechen rebel commander between 2000 and 2004, when Chechnya was fighting a war of independence against Russia. To Western observers, Mr Khangoshvili seemed likely to be part of a string of Moscow-ordered assassinations of Chechen exiles in Europe and the Middle East. The Kremlin denied orchestrating the Berlin murder, and dismissed the verdict against Krasikov as “politically motivated”. However, in his Tucker Carlson interview, President Putin appeared to make an admission when he said negotiations were under way for an exchange involving a Russian “patriot” who had “eliminated a bandit” in a European capital. Ulrich Lechte, who sits on the German government’s foreign affairs committee, told the BBC that President Putin’s desire to retrieve Krasikov is “a clear admission of guilt and shows how unscrupulously and unchallenged Russia has been able to act in our country”. FSB’s contract with assassins Vadim Krasikov belonged to the highly secretive ‘Vympel’ unit of Russia’s secret service, the FSB, according to prosecutors at his trial.”Its official remit is counter-terrorism operations at home, but it has in many ways returned to its original roots, as a unit tasked with covert ‘wet-work’ – sabotage and assassination – abroad,” Putin historian and Russian security expert Mark Galeotti told the BBC.Krasikov personally met Putin at a target shooting range while serving with Vympel, owned a BMW and Porsche, and travelled for work regularly, according to an interview his brother-in-law gave The Insider.An association between Krasikov and the FSB would provide one explanation for why Vladimir Putin, a former foreign intelligence officer himself, would be willing to hand over a prisoner of the value of Evan Gershkovich. Russia rejects offer to release jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich, US saysUS citizens jailed by Putin left hostage to a dealRussia again extends detention of US journalistBut Mark Galeotti said a potential deal says more about Russia’s social contract with agents abroad than the value of Krasikov individually. “It [Russia] says ‘look, if you do get caught, we will get you back, one way or the other. It may take a long time, but we will get you back’,” Mr Galeotti said. “That’s very important for getting people to put themselves in potentially very dangerous situations.” But whether Krasikov will ever be allowed back to Russia is ultimately up to the German government. The BBC approached three members of the government’s foreign affairs committee, all of whom oppose releasing Krasikov. Ulrich Lechte, whose Free Democratic Party is part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, insisted that Germany “must not do Russia this favour”. “This is a kind of amnesty and sends the political signal that Russia can commit further murders on our territory, which will then be released and thus remain unpunished,” Mr Lechte told the BBC. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Politicians on Germany’s foreign affairs committee say Zelimkhan Khangoshvili’s murder was “state terrorism””It must not be allowed to prevail that foreign citizens are arbitrarily arrested in order to abuse them for a prisoner exchange.” Jürgen Hardt, from the Christian Democrats, said he “didn’t see any political support” for rumoured prisoner swaps involving Krasikov. Even if there was political will in Berlin to release Krasikov, the legal mechanics which could make that happen are murky. He could be pardoned by the president, or deported to serve the remainder of his sentence in Russia – something that almost certainly wouldn’t happen in light of Putin’s comments.One case in point is the Russian “Merchant of Death”, Viktor Bout, an infamous arms dealer released from US custody as part of a prisoner exchange with US basketball star Brittney Griner. Bout has now pivoted to politics and won a seat at a local election in Russia.Image source, EPAImage caption, A protest against the Putin regime was held in Berlin during the Russian election.Nicola Bier, a German lawyer focusing on extradition law, told the BBC there is “no legal mechanism that is really designed for this particular situation”, so any move would be highly controversial and political.Anti-Kremlin political activist Bill Browder is now compiling a list of more than 50 Russian prisoners in Western countries who could be used as bargaining chips to free activists and journalists detained in Russia.Browder hopes the effort could help release British-Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years in jail for treason for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, as well as Evan Gershkovich.Asked by the BBC whether his campaign played into “hostage diplomacy”, Browder conceded it is “far from ideal”, but necessary to save lives.After Alexei Navalny’s death, Browder said, “it’s clear that other hostages are at risk of dying”.Related TopicsGermanyRussiaVladimir PutinMore on this storyNavalny was to be freed in prison swap – colleaguePublished26 FebruaryRussians expelled over hitman’s Berlin killingPublished15 December 2021US citizens jailed by Putin left hostage to a dealPublished20 December 2023Top StoriesKing to appear in public at Easter church servicePublished1 hour agoWatch: King to attend Easter church service at WindsorPublished7 minutes agoStability at Stormont my priority, says O’NeillPublished14 hours agoFeaturesWhere workers are exploited to harvest an everyday ingredientHow has cancer changed King Charles’s duties?’I was mutilated at 16 but I won’t let it define me’The Papers: ‘E coli Boat Race’ and ‘Euros on terror alert’In pictures: Pope leads Easter celebrationsThe FSB bicycle assassin Putin wants back in RussiaAphantasia: Why I cannot see my children in my mindSeven bills going up and one going down in AprilJeffrey Donaldson: From the White House to Antrim police stationElsewhere on the BBCOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayerWill this elite boarding school fit around them?Five black inner-city teens must leave their old worlds behind…AttributioniPlayer’A few people laughed, a few cried, most were silent’The extraordinary rise and fall of the inventor of the atomic bombAttributioniPlayerFancy a film tonight?There’s something for everyone on BBC iPlayerAttributioniPlayer](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/1BCA/production/_133041170_putin-index-getty.jpg)
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaNorth Korea TV censors Alan Titchmarsh’s trousersPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, KCTVBy Alistair ColemanBBC MonitoringNorth Korea’s state television channel has censored a BBC gardening programme – by blurring out presenter Alan Titchmarsh’s trousers.Central TV aired a 2010 edition of Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets for its morning audience, but made sure that viewers could not see his jeans.Jeans are seen as a symbol of western imperialism in the secretive state and as such are banned. North Korea’s rules prohibiting jeans have been in place since the 1990s.Back then, leader Kim Jong-il declared denim trousers to be a symbol of Western – and specifically American – imperialism, which had no place in a socialist state, according to Seoul-based NK News. In recent years, a crackdown on Western culture has reiterated this ban, with state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun telling citizens in 2020 to reject what it termed “bourgeois culture” in favour of a “superior socialist lifestyle”.Current leader Kim Jong-un, himself a fan of voluminous legwear, is reportedly irked by skinny jeans and T-shirts bearing Western logos which are popular in South Korea. How did North Korea get hold of a BBC programme?Western programming is extremely rare on North Korean screens, as the regime is careful – to the point of paranoia – about allowing foreign culture to enter the country. Yet this is not the first time Garden Secrets has been aired before on Central TV, with Mr Titchmarsh saying he was “surprised” to appear on screens in the Communist state.But it is still not entirely clear how it arrived in North Korea in the first place.While satellite dishes and access to the global internet are banned except for the very few trusted classes in Pyongyang, foreign media still arrives in the country, often on memory cards smuggled over the Chinese border. Owning or trading in foreign media is illegal.However, North Korean TV often pirates content from foreign broadcasters, blurring out onscreen logos to hide the original source.This is often the case with their airing of Premier League, Champions League, and International football.In 2014, during one of North Korea’s periods of connecting with the West, there were discussions suggesting possibly gifting UK television programmes to the East Asian state as a means of demonstrating so-called “soft-power”.The Sunday Times revealed in 2014 that BBC Worldwide – the former name of the corporation’s commercial arm BBC Studios – and the Foreign Office were hoping to “open [the North Korean] people’s eyes to the world beyond the closed republic without offending the regime”.The paper quoted a Whitehall official as saying: “Programmes sent to North Korea would have to be something that isn’t offensive, like Mr Bean, EastEnders, Miss Marple or Poirot.”You couldn’t send Dad’s Army, as it is about war. But Teletubbies could be an option, or The Good Life, with a bit of gardening and squabbling in the kitchen”.It’s not known if Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets was part of this package, or even if the programmes were delivered at all.Related TopicsBBCCensorshipNorth KoreaMore on this storyKim Jong-un wages war on slang, jeans and filmsPublished7 June 2021Putin gifts luxury car to North Korea’s KimPublished20 FebruaryVideo shows teens given hard labour for watching K-dramasPublished18 JanuaryKim Jong-un wants America’s attentionPublished3 November 2022Top StoriesLive. Rescuers search for missing after ship destroys Baltimore bridgeLive. Fighting continues in Gaza despite UN ceasefire voteLive. US must promise no death penalty for Assange, UK judges sayFeaturesWho is Julian Assange and why is he facing extradition?Bowen: Biden has decided strong words are not enoughWho are IS-K and why did they attack a Moscow concert hall?How do I know if my smart meter is broken?Striking kite-flying picture scoops top prizeAnti-abortion activists plan backdoor strategy to US banHow much is the BBC licence fee and what does it pay for?How do you save the pint from climate change?From jail to Africa’s youngest elected presidentElsewhere on the BBCExplore the untold story of the ‘Blackout Ripper’The extraordinary case of wartime London’s infamous killerAttributionSounds’You do feel like you’re invincible’Why are so many young men risking their lives on the UK’s roads?AttributioniPlayerOrwellian liars, Neolithic fires and spicy pilloriesSurprising facts and interesting history from the makers of QIAttributionSoundsHow many big hits from 1995 will you remember?Featuring Ace of Base, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, David Bowie and many moreAttributioniPlayerMost Read1North Korea censors Alan Titchmarsh’s trousers2Tory mayor contest ad shows New York instead of London3Gary the Gorilla statue ‘sawn in half’ after theft4Papa Johns pizza to shut nearly a tenth of UK sites5Putin pins attack on jihadists but still blames Kyiv6BBC to explore reform of licence fee7King will attend Easter church service at Windsor8Airport’s treatment of Hamas attack victims probed9Hathaway had miscarriage while playing pregnant woman10What we know about Baltimore bridge collapse](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/30CB/production/_133019421_northkorea-koreancentraltelevision.2024-03-25-02-16-24.jpg)
