Myanmar’s junta has blacklisted a company owned by Saw Chit Thu, a notorious warlord and chief of the regime-aligned Karen State Border Guard Force, for failing to deposit foreign currency export earnings into a junta-controlled bank.
Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Co, owned by Saw Chit Thu, was among 190 companies debarred on Monday for allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Management Law.
The junta amended the law after the 2021 coup, requiring exporters to deposit their foreign currency export earnings within 60 days of shipment. The penalty for noncompliance is one year in prison and/or a fine.
Saw Chit Thu is accused of overseeing a network of transnational scam centers and illegal online gambling operating for the past decade in Karen BGF territory in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, near the Thai border.
Karen BGF leaders reportedly profit from the multibillion-dollar crime hub through control of land, real estate joint ventures, tax revenues, security provision, smuggling, human trafficking, and sale of utilities.
The scale of the BGF’s criminal network was revealed last year by Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a covert group of activists campaigning for justice and accountability.
The BGF operates at least 14 business entities, with Saw Chit Thu’s family owning a controlling stake in six, according to JFM. Among them are two Myawaddy Township cyber-scam hubs: Apollo Park and Yulong Bay.
Saw Chit Thu’s family also holds a 65 percent stake in the blacklisted Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Co, as well as 68 percent of Chit Linn Myaing Mining & Industry Company Limited.
In 2023, the UK sanctioned him along with business partner Saw Min Min Oo for overseeing “trafficking of individuals to Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone where they were forced to work as scammers and subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”
Saw Chit Thu is listed among the blacklisted company’s directors under his alias, San Myint, along with his sons Hnin Nandar Aye, San Myit and Saw Htoo Eh Moo, as well as Saw Min Min Oo.
Monday’s blacklisting followed claims by junta Commerce Minister Tun Ohn that firms were renaming themselves to dodge the export earnings deposit requirement.
The junta is facing a crippling shortage of foreign currency, especially dollars, after four years of international sanctions, foreign investment withdrawal, and trade disruption since the 2021 coup.
Saw Chit Thu founded the Karen State BGF in 2010 after breaking away from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, a splinter group from the Karen National Union. The BGF remained under the Myanmar military until 2024 when cracks started to appear in their partnership.
