Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, who masterminded a US$12.5 billion banking fraud, has avoided the gallows after the government on Wednesday scrapped the death penalty for eight crimes, including embezzlement.Lan, the chairwoman of property giant the Van Thinh Phat Group, was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement and bribery charges.Her lawyer said the sentence “will be converted to life imprisonment” after the National Assembly abolished capital punishment for eight...