Catching up: Vietnam, peninsular flooding and Cambodia

Hello friends!

Round 2 of catching up today. Huge news from Vietnam, devastating flooding across Malaysia and Thailand and a very sad update from Cambodia.

See you tomorrow for Myanmar,

Erin Cook

🇻🇳 Death sentence upheld in enormous embezzlement case

It’s still death for Truong My Lan, ruled the High People’s Court in Saigon this week. The real estate businesswoman made full-on global headlines earlier in the year after she was sentenced to death in that truly bonkers embezzlement case in which US$12.3 billion is believed to have been flogged from the Saigon Commercial Bank. For scale, that’s four 1MDBs (but still less than what Transparency International accused Suharto of pocketing). 

Lan didn’t exactly own the bank, but through friends, shell companies, family and just about every other option she controlled just over 91% of shares. During the trial, it was reported she had repeatedly made false loan applications to withdraw money from the bank for years. This eventually accumulated to 93% of all credit issued by the bank, reports the Guardian. Holy shit, what! Truly bonkers. 

Lan was found guilty of bribing government officials in addition to violating bank lending rules with prosecutors saying total damages add up to $27 billion, Bloomberg reports. Minus collateral the final tally is at $19.6 billion — which is a very important figure. If Lan can get it together and return three-quarters of everything embezzled she could see her sentence reduced from death to life imprisonment. 

As always when we talk about corruption cases in Vietnam it is important to note that this case is part of the much wider Blazing Furnace net pulling down figures from across the country’s public domain for years now. This case is particularly staggering, however. 

🇲🇾 🇹🇭 Flooding leaves dozen dead, communities devastated

Devastating flooding across Southern Thailand and the northern states of Malaysia have authorities on edge and communities mourning. As of yesterday, Thai authorities reported at least 29 killed in flooding across Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung provinces. More than 33,000 residents have been forced to evacuate while the government scrambles to respond, AFP reports (via VOA). 

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed earlier this week that affected residents can expect a pay-out from the government, akin to those made a couple of months back when flooding hit northern provinces, the Bangkok Post reports. Households can expect a one-off payment of 9,000 baht (US$260). 

Across the border, the Star (via Straits Times) reports Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said a staggering six months worth of rain hit Malaysia’s east coast over five days last week. Around 150,000 evacuees were keeping dry in National Disaster Command Centre spots over the weekend, but data show this has decreased throughout the week. Around 88% of all evacuees are from Kelantan and Terengganu, two of the worst-hit states, the Associated Press reports. 

Authorities on both sides of the border are preparing for more rain and potential flooding at the end of this week, Al Jazeera reports. Separately, PM Anwar warned yesterday the Malaysian meteorological agency has flagged a possible second wave, the Star reports.

🇰🇭 Surrogate ring jailed

An update on the Cambodia surrogacy story we touched on back in September. Thirteen Filipino women have been sentenced to four years imprisonment for attempted human trafficking. All 13 are pregnant and were reportedly taking part in surrogacy, which was infamously outlawed in Cambodia back in 2016 following concerns of exploitation of women. A Cambodian woman, reported to be the housekeeper, was also sentenced to two years for failing to report the crime. 

The Cambodian woman and two of the Filipino women have been handed suspended sentences, CamboJA reports. ‘There is clear and strong evidence that the 13 women intended to become surrogates to produce babies for the purpose of selling them to a third party in exchange for money, which is considered a crime of human trafficking, the court stated,’ as per CamboJA. 

The involved women might be less criminal and more victim, rights groups have said in response to the sentences. “It is important that the authorities and the court show transparency in the investigation. This is important to avoid controversy and criticism of the trial,” Am Sam Ath of human rights group Licadho told Radio Free Asia, as reported by Benar News. 

Back in the Philippines, the Inquirer has an interesting story on the fate of the unborn involved. Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said yesterday that everything is still being chatted out with Cambodian authorities, but the Philippines has signalled its intention to consider the eventual babies as Filipinos. 

I'm with Licadho. These women were clearly not intending to raise the children, and who the clients were remains a mystery to me. It's all very sad.