Victims of the Vietnamese tycoon’s scam are counting their losses after their conviction

HANOI: Ten years of selling diapers and baby products earned Nguyen Thi Huong a modest savings of $20,000, but her earnings were lost in Vietnam’s biggest ever scam that saw the tycoon responsible sentenced to life in prison.

Tens of thousands of people have been defrauded in the multibillion-dollar case that sent shockwaves through the communist country, with mastermind Truong My Lan jailed for life on Thursday after being given the death penalty in a separate embezzlement case.

“Who lives or dies now is no longer important to the people,” Huong said.

“Victims across the country are deeply outraged,” the 33-year-old told AFP, adding that she felt “resentment and a loss of confidence in the party and the government”.

Lan was sentenced to death in April for masterminding a $27 billion fraud at the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), which prosecutors said was under her control.

The loot, according to prosecutors, amounted to about six percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product by 2023 and sent shockwaves through the communist country as it seeks to broaden its appeal as an investment destination.

During the four-week trial in Ho Chi Minh City, prosecutors said up to 36,000 people had been defrauded by SCB.

“When I heard that I had lost all the money I deposited in SCB Bank, I felt like I was going crazy,” Huong said.

She said she could no longer sleep, her health deteriorated due to stress and she no longer had the money to tutor her children, causing them to fall behind their peers.

“I sat at my father’s grave and wished he would take me with him in death,” Huong said.

Fish sauce seller Hoang Thi Cuc, 44, used her savings of $140,000 to buy corporate bonds from Lan’s bank.

She said she was tricked into buying the bonds.

Cuc and Huong have spent the two years since the fraud came to light asking government agencies to refund their money – or force Lan to pay it back.

They have also joined protests demanding government action, a rarity in the communist-led country.

“I completely trusted the bank,” said Huong, who invested in SCB bonds in 2021.

“I just put the money in the bank so I could live on interest.”

On Thursday, the court ordered Lan to pay back the full amount of money stolen from the 35,824 victims, state media said.

No details were given on how or when this would happen.

“I feel disappointed, it’s overwhelming and it makes me shake. I need to know how I will be paid, and not just empty promises,” Cuc said.

‘There’s nothing left to lose. We’ve been pushed to the limit.’ -AFP