Myanmar’s former home affairs minister Lieutenant General Soe Htut on Friday was imprisoned for five years on corruption charges by a military court.
The ex-deputy prime minister stepped down from the junta’s cabinet and transferred back to military duties in September. Then he was arrested and interrogated along with his family and various business owners in early October as part of a nationwide corruption probe.
The junta’s Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Saturday that Soe Htut abused his power by ordering subordinates to issue passports to companies operating in the country.
He took bribes and breached the financial rules of the Ministry of Home Affairs staff welfare fund, the paper said.
It said others involved in the case would face action in civil courts and police officers would be prosecuted under separate procedures.
Soe Htut served as commander of Southern Command and as the military intelligence chief. He has been described as the alter ego of regime leader Min Aung Hlaing.
In 2020 he was appointed as home affairs minister, which was controlled by the military under the 2008 Constitution, and deputy prime minister after the February 2021 coup.
As home affairs minister he oversaw the executions of four anti-regime activists, including veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw in Yangon’s Insein Prison last year. The hangings of the political prisoners, the first in decades in Myanmar, triggered a massive public outcry.
He and Police Brigadier General Kyaw Soe Win also led the team that arrested President U Win Myint on February 1, 2021.
Soe Htut has three sons who have business interests in construction, hospitals, food manufacturing and imports.
The former minister and his wife, Nilar Sein, purportedly enjoyed a luxury lifestyle with a high-handed attitude towards subordinates.
Ministerial staff seeking promotion or transfers reportedly had to first bribe Nilar Sein, who was seen as dominant in the relationship.
A business owner earlier told The Irrawaddy that firms had to first approach Nilar Sein before applying for government contracts. It is unclear if Nilar Sein and their sons were also prosecuted.
In October, the junta issued life sentences, the equivalent of 20 years, to the former junta trade chief, ex-Lieutenant General Moe Myint Tun, and his assistant, ex-Brigadier General Yan Naung Soe, for corruption.
