According to Vietnamese media reports, Zhang Meilan, a billionaire who was previously sentenced to death, submitted a petition to the Central Comprehensive Steering Committee of Vietnam in prison, focusing on the fact that her property was greatly underestimated during the evaluation process.
In the last part of the petition, Zhang Meilan expressed her willingness to participate in the disposal of property. On the 13th local time, Zhang Meilan’s representative lawyer Jiang Hongqing said that Zhang Meilan was willing to help the country turn her real estate empire into “a goose that lays golden eggs” to avoid the death penalty.
Jiang Hongqing revealed that Zhang Meilan pointed out in the letter that among her 1,126 properties, 726 assets were evaluated by the evaluation company designated by the Vietnamese government, several of which were real estate projects located in prime locations in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city. The appraiser believed that the value of these assets was about US$9.7 billion. Zhang Meilan believes that the value of these projects may have risen by 3 to 5 times as the Ho Chi Minh City government issued new land price guidelines.
Truong My-Lan added that another 440 properties were simply ignored by the appraisal company, and she believed that these real estate projects in prosperous areas were worth much more than zero. If her 440 assets were valued, the Vietnamese government could get at least $7.7 billion more.
“I believe that with my 30 years of experience in the real estate industry and a thorough understanding of the law, I can turn most of my assets into a ‘golden goose’ so that the state can recoup its costs,” Truong My-Lan wrote in the letter, begging the relevant departments to allow her to participate in the disposal of the property. She suggested that the Central General Steering Committee handle the property at market prices to avoid losses. She also said that her participation could bring at least 200 trillion Vietnamese dong (about 55.6 billion yuan) to the Vietnamese government.
According to Red Star News, Truong My-Lan, 68, the richest woman in Vietnam and chairman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Group, was accused of defrauding 304 trillion Vietnamese dong (about 90 billion yuan) in the “Saigon Commercial Bank case”. This is the country’s largest financial fraud case in history.
Last November, the Vietnamese court rejected Zhang Meilan’s appeal in the second instance and upheld the death sentence. The Vietnamese prosecutor’s representative said at the time that Zhang Meilan must hand over at least 280 trillion Vietnamese dong in property to have a chance of getting a sentence reduction, that is, to avoid being executed by injection.
According to Resolution No. 03 of the Judges’ Conference of the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam, the competent authorities can only consider commuting sentences when criminals or their families hand over more than 3/4 of the stolen money.