Vietnam will remove the death penalty for eight offences from next month, including embezzlement and activities aimed at overthrowing the government, parliament said on Wednesday, sparing the life of a tycoon in a $12-billion fraud case.

Vietnam has abolished the death penalty for eight criminal offenses setting the stage for the courts to spare the life of a real estate tycoon sentenced to death last year.

Vietnam has lifted the death penalty for eight crimes in legal reforms that may spare the life of a real estate tycoon imprisoned in the country’s largest financial fraud case.