Finance Minister U Soe Win to Head Scandal-Hit Industry Ministry

By The Irrawaddy 31 July 2019

YANGON—The President’s Office on Tuesday assigned U Soe Win, the Union minister for planning and finance, to concurrently serve as industry minister, four days after U Khin Maung Cho stepped down from the position.

On July 26, the President’s Office announced that U Khin Maung Cho had stepped down of his own volition in the wake of a corruption scandal, and that President U Win Myint had decided to replace him.

U Khin Maung Cho is the second Union minister to resign amid allegations of corruption. The charges arose after he failed to invite tenders for the procurement of raw materials for Burma Pharmaceutical Industry (BPI), a state-owned drugmaker under the Industry Ministry.

U Soe Win, who has nearly five decades of experience in the finance and banking sectors, became the minister of planning and finance in May last year after his predecessor U Kyaw Win stepped down, also in the wake of a corruption probe.

In a separate case, the Anti-Corruption Commission this month launched an investigation into Electricity Minister U Win Khaing and his deputy U Htun Naing.

The NLD government now has 25 ministries led by 23 ministers and 20 deputy ministers.

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