The brother of a five-star casino resort owner wanted by both Myanmar and Thai authorities has died in junta interrogation.
U Htay Win (aka U Naung Paing) was the youngest brother of U Kyaw Lwin, who is wanted by Thai authorities for alleged online gambling operations, money laundering and tax fraud centered on his Grand Andaman Hotel on Thahtay Kyueatn Island in Tanintharyi Region’s Kawthaung Township. Thailand issued a warrant for U Kyaw Lwin’s arrest on Feb. 1 following its crackdown on the “Kofuk” network, which allegedly laundered money from online gambling.
Myanmar’s military regime followed up with its own arrest warrant for U Kyaw Lwin last week.
His brother, U Htay Win, spent the beginning of February in Yangon but then returned to Kawthaung, one of his friends told The Irrawaddy.
His friends warned him not to return, but the 60-year-old believed he was not linked to his brother’s case and was protected by his status as a respected Tanintharyi business leader with ties to the junta’s local administration.
He was arrested at his house in Kawthaung on Feb. 4. His family members had been working to bail him out when they were informed on Sunday that he had hanged himself. They were told to cremate the body by 5 pm on Monday.
“Almost all Kawthaung residents feel sorrow that he was brutally killed. Ko Naung Paing was very sociable. He mingled with roadside people,” said a Kawthaung resident.
U Kyaw Lwin is the eldest of the four siblings, U Htay Win being the youngest.
Their brother Ko Bi operates offshore fishing trawlers and filling stations. Their sister Ma Shu Po is the owner of a resort on popular Nyaung Oo Phee Island in the Myeik Archipelago. U Htay Win also held shares in his brother’s casino-hotel.
U Kyaw Lwin holds dual Myanmar-Thai citizenship and goes under the name of Sanga Kangval in Thailand. His five-star hotel on the border with Thailand’s Ranong offered an array of gambling rooms, spas, karaoke lounges and beauty salons and employed more than 1,500 people before it shut. He also has a near monopoly over fuel supplies in Kawthaung.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said the Kofuk network uses the results of the state lottery in Thailand and other countries to run its online gambling operation. DSI investigators say that more than 1 billion baht (US$ 28 million) was circulating through the operation.
The network also committed tax fraud by creating false records for fuel exports and applying for tax refunds, the DSI said, adding that it had operated for more than 10 years and cost the state more than 10 billion baht in lost tax revenue.
The crackdown featured raids in 27 locations across Thailand including, U Kyaw Lwin’s house in Ranong.
U Kyaw Lwin reportedly fled from Ranong to Kawthaung after the Thai government issued a warrant for his arrest. He remains at large.
Junta officials have also searched the houses of U Kyaw Lwin’s relatives and friends in Myanmar.
