Ethics Newsline®

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam
A Vietnamese court last week ordered the execution of a local businesswoman for obtaining $27.8 million in fraudulent loans in the latest in a series of high-profile corruption cases culminating with a death penalty.

Business owner Tran Thi Hieu was convicted of fraudulently using the names of family, friends, and staff at her agricultural and garment firm to secure a series of loans in a far-reaching scandal implicating the management at several Vietnamese banks, reported the BBC.

Last week’s convictions also resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment for three former top-level bank executives, and sentences ranging from probation to 18 months in prison for 28 others.

The BBC notes that the stiff penalties are part of a get-tough-on-corruption campaign that spawned nearly 200 death sentences last year, a trend that worries some human-rights groups.