In the first phase of the trial, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Ms. Truong My Lan to 20 years in prison for Bribery; 20 years in prison for Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions and the death penalty for Embezzlement. The total sentence is the death penalty.
At this trial, defendant Truong My Lan also faced accusations and a sentence that will certainly be severe. But there is one very "strange" thing, which is that defendant Truong My Lan still requested the court to return a set of diamond jewelry worth more than 30 carats and 2 albino Hermes bags.
According to defendant Truong My Lan, those two Hermes bags "cannot be bought with money"; "if the names Truong My Lan and Chu Lap Co do not have enough prestige in the world, they cannot be bought".
It is true that with some special products of big fashion brands in the world, even with money it is difficult to buy. Ms. Truong My Lan is not exaggerating.
She told the truth, because she and her husband spent so much money on this luxury item, of course Hermes and other brands knew their faces and names.
According to the investigation agency, from January 1, 2018 to October 10, 2022, Truong My Lan directed employees to deposit a total of more than 225 billion VND into her husband's credit cards. Defendant Chu Lap Co opened and used 3 credit cards to pay for services, purchase jewelry, metals, precious stones... for himself and Truong My Lan during her life, stay, and travel in Vietnam and China, France, England, Italy...
Where did those hundreds of billions of dong come from? It was the hard-earned money of thousands of people, not honest money. The assets obtained from that money, whether small or large, ordinary or hard to buy, were all obtained through crime.
Do not use the language of luxury goods users to bargain in court. In court, the highest value is the correct enforcement of the law, not a luxury bag but any property, which will be temporarily detained or returned when there is sufficient basis.
Ms. Truong My Lan said that she could ask her family members to go abroad to earn money to redeem the two albino Hermes bags because they were her passion. The word "redeem" cannot be used in this case.
Wanting to own 2 albino Hermes bags, Ms. Truong My Lan is still waiting for the next steps, maybe this property will be auctioned to execute the judgment. At that time, her family members will participate to fulfill her wish.
