Serge Pun, the former executive chairman of Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings Limited, was charged with money laundering and other illegal transactions in late July after his month-long detention by the junta, according to sources familiar with the case.
The 71-year-old tycoon faces two additional charges: misusing public funds and damaging the interest of the national government for allegedly using criminal proceeds from online scam centers to invest in the expansion of Star City, a massive real estate project in Yangon Region’s Thanlyin Township, sources told The Irrawaddy, adding that Chinese authorities asked the regime to investigate the source of funding for Star City’s expansion.
Pun is also the executive chair of Myanmar’s Yoma Bank.
Business sources said the bank’s director and CEO, Ba Maung Sein, senior manager Zarni Tun and two other of its executives will also be prosecuted.
Yoma Bank’s chief finance officer Kyaw Khiang Win is a witness for the regime’s case against Serge Pun and his Yoma Bank associates, sources said.
The charges against the four Yoma Bank executives have not been made public.
The downfall of Serge Pun, who was once proud to be dubbed “Burma’s Mr Clean” for daring to say no to Myanmar’s grasping generals when he started his business in the 1990s, began in June.
Also known as U Theim Wai, he and other senior members of the bank were questioned in June and later detained by the junta. They are accused of violating financial regulations by providing mortgages through Yoma Bank to Myanmar nationals seeking to buy property in Thailand, and by exceeding the central bank’s cap on housing loans.
Following news about his detention, Yoma Strategic Holdings told the Stock Exchange of Singapore that Serge Pun was cooperating with authorities in Naypyitaw. “There are no charges filed against him,” Melvyn Pun, Yoma CEO, and one of Serge Pun’s sons said in the statement to regulators.
In late July, Serge Pun stepped down as executive chairman of Yoma Strategic Holdings Limited after 17 years in charge. In a statement, Yoma Strategic said his decision to step down “will enable Serge Pun to dedicate his attention to resolving matters relating to his engagement with Myanmar’s authorities concerning banking activities in the country, and preserve the stability of the group.”
Serge Pun has also stepped down from the leadership of 105 Yoma firms – including First Myanmar Investment, SPA and Pun Hlaing – and Myanmar Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Holdings, a separate consortium.
Yoma firms span banking, healthcare, real estate, tourism, automotive and other consumer service sectors.
It owns shares in Thilwa and has invested in other companies developing the SEZ on the outskirts of Yangon. Thilwa, the first SEZ in Yangon, was backed by the governments of Myanmar and Japan.
