By Blessing Nweke
Vietnamese authorities are seeking to auction off luxury assets belonging to embattled property tycoon Truong My Lan, including two Hermès Birkin bags and a luxury yacht, as part of efforts to recover billions of dollars lost in one of the largest financial fraud cases in history.
Ho Chi Minh City’s Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency said this week it is looking for experts to appraise the value of two crocodile-skin Hermès Birkin bags seized from Truong My Lan. The bags, among the most exclusive luxury accessories in the world, can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
At the same time, Truong My Lan’s yacht is set to return to auction next month with a reduced starting price of 49.3 billion Vietnamese dong ($1.9m; £1.4m), after a previous attempt to sell it failed to attract buyers. The yacht will be auctioned again on 12 February, with bidders required to place a deposit of 20% of the starting price. Two additional boats owned by the tycoon will also be auctioned, each starting at 4.8 billion dong.
Truong My Lan is serving a life sentence after being convicted of embezzlement linked to Saigon Commercial Bank, Vietnam’s fifth-largest lender. Prosecutors said she secretly controlled the bank and siphoned off funds over more than a decade through a complex network of shell companies. Of the $44bn involved, $27bn was misappropriated and $12bn was judged to have been embezzled. She has been ordered to return $27bn in reparations.
Initially sentenced to death in April 2024, her punishment was commuted to life imprisonment last June after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for a range of crimes. More than 80 people, including family members, were convicted alongside her.
Authorities have seized more than 1,200 assets tied to Truong My Lan, including real estate and company holdings. Last October, one prime property in central Ho Chi Minh City sold at auction for more than 600 billion dong, marking the first successful recovery from her vast portfolio.
Original article
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