HO CHI MINH CITY: The appeal of a Vietnamese property tycoon convicted of money laundering began on Tuesday, three months after she lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case.
Property developer Truong My Lan was found guilty in April 2024 of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and sentenced to death for fraud amounting to $27 billion.
Lan appealed against that verdict and the court said there was no basis to reduce her sentence, but ruled that she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three quarters of the stolen assets.
Now she is appealing against the verdict from a second trial in October, in which she was sentenced to life in prison for three crimes.
On Tuesday Lan, now accustomed to high-profile hearings, chatted with police officers and looked relatively relaxed as she waited for the court to start in Ho Chi Minh City.
Her niece, who was handed a five-year prison term in October for fraudulent appropriation of property, sat behind her, flanked by officers.
It is the first time Lan is in the dock without her husband, Chu Nap Kee, who is not challenging a two-year sentence he was handed for money laundering in October.
The appeal will last until April 21 and Lan will be defended by eight lawyers, according to state media.
The 68-year-old was found guilty of laundering $17.7 billion and illegal cross-border trafficking of $4.5 billion.
She was also found guilty of bond fraud to the tune of $1.2 billion.
The court determined that Lan was “the mastermind, committed the crime with sophisticated methods, many times, causing especially serious consequences.”
Thirty-three other defendants were also sentenced at the court in Ho Chi Minh City and given terms ranging from two to 23 years in prison.
Twenty-seven of them are appealing against their sentences, state media said.
During her first trial in April, Lan was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam totaled $27 billion – equivalent to around six percent of the country’s 2023 GDP.
Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper but at her trial the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff.
Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.
Vietnam death row tycoon begins appeal in $17.7 billion money-laundering case
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Vietnam death row tycoon begins appeal in $17.7 billion money-laundering case
- Property developer Truong My Lan was found guilty in April 2024 of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank
- She was sentenced to death for fraud amounting to $27 billion, but appealed against that verdict
‘Pissed off’ at Putin, Trump threatens tariffs on Russian oil if Moscow blocks Ukraine deal
- “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault," he said on NBC News
- Putin on Friday suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections that could push out Zelensky
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin and will impose secondary tariffs of 25 percent to 50 percent on buyers of Russian oil if he feels Moscow is blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told NBC News he was very angry after Putin last week criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership, the television network reported, citing a telephone interview early on Sunday.
Since taking office in January, Trump has adopted a more conciliatory stance toward Russia that has left Western allies wary as he tries to broker an end to Moscow’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
His sharp comments about Putin on Sunday reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said.
“That would be, that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
Trump said he could impose the new trade measures within a month.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow. Russia has called numerous Western sanctions and restrictions “illegal” and designed for the West to take economic advantage in its rivalry with Russia.
Trump, who spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, told NBC News he planned to speak with Putin this week. The two leaders have had two publicly announced telephone calls in recent months but may have had more contacts, the Kremlin said in video footage last week.
The White House had no immediate comment on when the call would take place, or if Trump would also speak with Zelensky.
Trump has focused heavily on ending what he calls a “ridiculous” war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but has made little progress.
Putin on Friday suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections that could push out Zelensky.
Trump, who himself has called for new elections in Ukraine and denounced Zelensky as a dictator, said Putin knows he is angry with him. But Trump added he had “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly ... if he does the right thing.”
Growing pressure to end war
Trump’s comments followed a day of meetings and golf with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Saturday, during Stubb’s surprise visit to Florida.
Stubb’s office on Sunday said he told Trump a deadline needs to be set for establishing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire to make it happen and suggested April 20 since Trump would have been in office then for three months.
US officials have been separately pushing Kyiv to accept a critical minerals agreement, a summary of which suggested the US was demanding all Ukraine’s natural resources income for years. Zelensky has said Kyiv’s lawyers need to review the draft before he can say more about the US offer.
Trump’s latest tariff threats would add to the pain already facing China, India and other countries through trade measures imposed during his first two months in office, including duties on steel, aluminum and cars. More duties on imports from the countries with the largest trade surpluses are slated to be announced on Wednesday.
William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the haphazard way Trump was announcing and threatening tariffs leaves many questions unanswered, including how US officials could trace and prove which countries were buying Russian oil.
Trump set the stage for Sunday’s news with a 25 percent secondary tariff imposed last week on US imports from any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela.
His remarks to NBC suggest he could take similar action against US imports from countries that buy oil from Russia, a move that could hit China and India particularly hard.
The US has not imported any Russian barrels of crude oil since April 2022, according to US government data. Before that, US refiners bought inconsistent volumes of Russian oil, with a high of 98.1 million barrels in 2010 and low of 6.6 million in 2014, according to a review of EIA data since 2000.
India has surpassed China to become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, which comprised about 35 percent of India’s total crude imports in 2024.
Trump on Sunday also said he could hit buyers of Iranian oil with secondary sanctions if Tehran did not reach an agreement to end their nuclear weapons program.
Russia, US start talks on rare earth metals projects in Russia, RIA agency reports
Moscow and Washington have started talks on joint rare earth metals and other projects in Russia, Russia’s special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation told the Izvestia media outlet in remarks published on Monday.
“Rare earth metals are an important area for cooperation, and, of course, we have begun discussions on various rare earth metals and (other) projects in Russia,” Kirill Dmitriev, who is also the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told Izvestia.
Putin, following negotiations between the US and Ukraine over a draft minerals deal, has offered the US, under a future economic deal, to jointly explore Russia’s rare earth metal deposits.
Dmitriev, who was part of Russia’s negotiating team at talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia in February, said some companies have already shown interest in the projects. He did not name any companies and did not reveal further details.
Izvestia reported the cooperation may be further discussed at the next round of Russia-US talks that may take place in mid-April in Saudi Arabia.
Rare earths and other critical metals, essential for high-tech industries, have gained global attention in recent months as US President Donald Trump spurred efforts to counter China’s dominance in the sector.
Tesla chargers torched in France arson attack
- There have been a number of anti-Telsa actions in the US and Europe since Elon Musk became Trump’s adviser and backed European far-right parties
SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France: Twelve Tesla electric superchargers were targeted in an arson attack in the carpark of a supermarket in central France, a police source told AFP on Sunday.
The fire broke out overnight Wednesday to Thursday in the town of St-Chamond in the Loire department, the source said, confirming a report in the regional newspaper Le Progres.
Two of the chargers, each worth tens of thousands of euros, were completely destroyed, while the others were damaged.
“Anti-Tesla campaign born to burn” was found painted in white on the car park floor.
The police source said it was “the first act targeting the business of billionaire American Elon Musk” in the Loire.
An investigation for “damage and destruction by fire” has been opened but no arrests had been made, the source added.
There have been a number of anti-Telsa actions in Europe since Musk became US President Donald Trump’s adviser and backed European far-right parties.
Earlier this month, a dozen Teslas were torched in an attack on a dealership near the southern city of Toulouse, leaving eight vehicles burnt out.
Another four cars were badly damaged.
A recent spate of attacks on Tesla property in the United States have been described by Attorney General Pam Bondi as “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
EU open to ‘compromise’ on US tariffs, says Scholz
- Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on the United States’ allies and adversaries, including a 25-percent levy on auto imports starting next week
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday said the EU would respond firmly to tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump but stressed the bloc was also open to compromise.
“It is clear that we, as the European Union... will react clearly and decisively to the United States’ tariff policy,” Scholz said ahead of the opening of a trade fair in Hanover.
But the bloc was “always and at all times firmly prepared to work for compromise and cooperation,” he said.
“I say to the US: Europe’s goal remains cooperation. But if the US leaves us no choice, as with the tariffs on steel and aluminum, we will respond as a united European Union,” Scholz said.
Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on the United States’ allies and adversaries, including a 25-percent levy on auto imports starting next week.
A 25-percent US tariff on steel and aluminum from around the world came into effect in mid-March, with EU countermeasures set to begin in April.
As a major car manufacturer and exporter, Germany could be hit particularly hard by the auto tariffs and they were the subject of a visit to Washington by Finance Minister Joerg Kukies last week.
Germany has vowed a tough response to the tariffs, with a government spokesman insisting that “nothing is off the table.”
However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struck a more conciliatory tone on Saturday, calling for a “reasoned” approach to the escalating dispute.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also previously said she “deeply” regretted the US auto tariffs and the EU would “continue to seek negotiated solutions.”
Scholz on Sunday also insisted Canada was an independent country, responding to repeated comments by Trump that it should become the 51st US state.
“Canada is a proud, independent nation, Canada has friends all over the world and especially here in Germany and Europe,” he said at the Hanover trade fair.
Canada is a special guest at the event, which officially opens on Monday.
Beachcomber in France hunts fragments of migrant lives
- The item is one of many objects migrants leave behind when they board one of the small boats they hope will carry them to the English coast
GRAVELINES, France: The sand-covered notes outlining a migrant’s travel plan to a better life read like an itinerary of hope: from Ethiopia to Sudan, Libya, Italy, on to France and finally, England.
The document had traveled thousands of kilometers by the time it was picked up on a beach in Gravelines on France’s North Sea coast by a Belgian who likes to scour the beach in search of interesting things to collect.
Aaron Fabrice de Kisangani, 27, who calls himself a “beachcomber” and a “citizen scientist,” carefully unfolded the piece of paper that was soaked, dirty and covered in sand fleas, hoping for clues to the owner’s life.
The item is one of many objects migrants leave behind when they board one of the small boats they hope will carry them to the English coast. Sometimes they lose things in the hurry, and sometimes they throw them away deliberately, to travel light.
This is how shoes, clothes, bags and documents belonging to migrants end up strewn on northern French beaches, along with things left by fishermen and visitors.
Over the past two decades, Fabrice de Kisangani has made some unusual finds, including exotic plant seeds and shark teeth. He never used to pay attention to objects left by migrants, until about a year ago.
“I started to think, why don’t I take them, because otherwise they will be lost,” he told AFP.
The written notes he found probably belonged to an Ethiopian woman called Rose I., at least that is the name scribbled at the top of the page.
Rose meticulously listed cities, journey times and means of transport, drawing arrows between each entry.
The itinerary starts with “A.A.” for Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Eight hundred kilometers (500 miles) and 17 hours by car later comes Metema, on the Sudanese border. “Ten minutes on foot,” Rose predicted, would take her to Gallabat on the other side.
Then on to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, followed by thousands of kilometers across sand, marked simply as “desert,” to Tripoli, in Libya.
Next came the voyage across the sea to Italy, followed by a train journey to France. And then, at last, the final destination: “UK.”
Fabrice de Kisangani found many other fragments of exile life during his morning search: a summons for a March 18 expulsion hearing for an Albanian in detention, or tickets from the Romanian capital Bucharest by plane to Paris, and then by train to Dunkerque in northern France.
These objects could help “humanize those people again,” because they tell “their story,” said Fabrice de Kisangani.
“I want to show the problem from another angle, as a beachcomber,” he said, admitting however that he has not worked out yet what exactly to do with the objects.
But in the meantime, the finds taught him “a lot” about the migrants, “about how they travel and how fast,” the beachcomber said, adding he often does research to find out more about their home countries and “why they are fleeing to the UK.”
Walking back to his car, Fabrice de Kisangani saw a scene playing out in the distance that has become commonplace around here: dozens of migrants emerging from the dunes and running toward a boat waiting in the water. At first they were stopped by police but, in another attempt a few minutes later, most managed to climb aboard.
A child could be heard crying. A man, one of three members of a family who didn’t make it, urged his mother to climb back off the boat, without success.
Such existential scenes, illustrating the undertaking’s fragility, are never documented in the objects jettisoned on the beach. The final pieces of the puzzle remain elusive.
Did Rose, the travel plan author, ever make it to England? Did she stick to her itinerary?
On this, the notes are silent.
