Reported by Aniruddha for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

A major property investor in Vietnam, Truong My Lan, is on trial over an accusation of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion. That is nearly 3 percent of the country’s 2022 total economic production and the largest financial fraud case on record.

Lan is the 66-year-old head of the property company Van Thinh Phat. The company was one of Vietnam’s biggest property companies and its projects include homes, offices, hotels, and business centers.

A government document says she reportedly used “thousands of ghost companies,” paid bribes to government officials, and broke banking laws. She is accused of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank from 2012 to 2022 and using it to steal $12.5 billion, the document adds.

Another 85 people are being charged in the case, including a former State Bank of Vietnam official accused of accepting $5.2 million in bribes. Lan was arrested in October 2022 and could be executed if found guilty.

Officials brought Lan to a Ho Chi Minh City courtroom on Tuesday morning. Her husband Eric Chu Nap-kee, who works in property investment in Hong Kong, was also asked to appear in the case, VN Express reported.

Lan’s arrest is part of an ongoing anti-corruption drive that brought thousands of officials and business leaders under investigation. In January 2023, then-President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and two top officials resigned for “political responsibility” of corruption dealings during the pandemic.

Read full report: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/amp/vietnamese-woman-accused-of-12-5-billion-fraud/7514821.html