More than a hundred lawyers participated in the appeal trial, which lasted a month, according to state media.
The businesswoman stole billions of dollars over a decade, via a set-up of fraudulent bonds passing through the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), more than 90% owned by her group, Van Thinh Phat, specializing in real estate.
The scandal, of historic proportions, shocked public opinion in Vietnam, provoking rallies, exceptionally tolerated by the communist power. Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings with SCB lost their money.
The trials against the leader illustrate both the neglect of the banking sector, during a period of rapid and unprecedented enrichment in the country, and the anti-corruption campaign led vigorously by the authorities.
Vietnamese law allows those sentenced to death to escape execution if three quarters of ill-gotten assets are returned, or in the event of cooperation considered sufficient with the authorities.
