My First Reaction: It Sounds Like a Good Start

Vietnamese real estate mogul Truong My Lan has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to death.

Given that the fraud was $44,000,000,000.00, and Vietnam's annual GDP was $408,800,000,000.00, this means that her fraud was equivalent of 10.7% of Vietnamese GDP, so I understand the sentence.

I don't approve of the sentence though.  I oppose the death penalty:

It 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.

It's a rare verdict - she is one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.

The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions.

………

The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five others were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges and can appeal.

All of the defendants were found guilty. Four received life in jail. The rest were given prison terms ranging from 20 years to three years suspended. Truong My Lan's husband and niece received jail terms of nine and 17 years respectively.

………

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.

This may explain why they went after Ms. Truong.

Going after an ethnic minority, in this case Vietnamese of Chinese descent, is generally a political win.

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.

A need for a translate here, "Made their money developing and speculating in property," translates to, "Corrupt parasite."

Of course, she made her money because she was lining the pockets of party officials, but at some point, it became unsustainable.

I'm wondering what the next step in this anti-corruption campaign will be.