Shwe Byain Phyu Oil and Gas Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP) Group of Companies – the major supplier of fuel to the Myanmar military – was liquidated on August 10 under Myanmar’s Insolvency Law.
Owned by crony Thein Win Zaw, SBP has interests in gas stations, gem mining, telecoms and logging. It is one of the regime’s top taxpayers.
Only one junta mouthpiece, Myawady Daily, reported on the liquidation of Shwe Byain Phyu Oil & Gas. Other military-controlled media were mute.
Shwe Byain Phyu Oil & Gas was a member of the Myanmar Petroleum Trade Association. It cooperated with military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and notorious crony and arms-broker Tay Za, according to advocacy group Justice for Myanmar.
Many of the businesses Thein Win Zaw has shares in have been hit by sanctions imposed by European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The parallel National Unity Government has also backlisted SBP for supporting violence and war crimes.
Some observers have suggested that Shwe Byain Phyu Oil & Gas was liquidated to avoid further sanctions, and that it may resume operations under another name.
The liquidation followed Washington’s sanctions on two junta-controlled banks that conduct international transactions, and Singapore’s UOB Bank announcement that it would shut junta-linked bank accounts.
SBP was established in 1996 while Myanmar was under the rule of former military dictator Than Shwe. The company operates in partnership with the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd in mining, and the import and distribution of fuel.
Thein Win Zaw allegedly amassed a fortune from the large-scale smuggling of fuel by sea via southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region and Mon State, and has close links with the successive leaders of the Myanmar Navy.
Following the appointment of former Navy chief Tin Aung San as transport and communications minister in Min Aung Hlaing’s regime, Thein Win Zaw bought the Myanmar subsidiary of Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor a Lebanese investment company.
Thein Win Zaw is also a director of the Mahar Yoma Public Company, part of a consortium that has a stake in the military-owned telecom operator Mytel. The 60-year-old crony often visits the residence of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
SBP also operates jade mines in partnership with state-owned Myanma Gems Enterprise and is the major supplier of fuel to the junta’s military.
Thein Win Zaw donated 10 million kyats (US$ 4,745) when jailed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had a pagoda built in 2019 in Naypyitaw. But the crony was far more generous to dictator Min Aung Hlaing, donating over 560 million kyats (US$ 265,760) to his Maravijaya Buddha statue.
