The appeal of a Vietnamese property tycoon given the death penalty for fraud totaling $27 billion will begin on Monday after she pleaded for a more "lenient and humane" sentence.

Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted earlier this year of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) — which prosecutors said she controlled — and sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history.

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.