Police Fraud Exposed by Myanmar Auditor-General
By Zarni Mann 18 December 2019
Mandalay – Myanmar’s Office of the Auditor-General has said that four police brigades, which are under the jurisdiction of the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, misused more than 600 million kyats (about US$400,000) from April to September 2018.
The financial report from April to September 2018 was submitted to the Union Parliament on Tuesday by Auditor-General U Maw Than.
The report said the brigades were from Mandalay and Sagaing regions, Yenangyaung in Magwe Region, and Hopang in northern Shan State.
The police training school in Sagaing misused 100 million kyats while the sub-security force in Shwe Sar Yan, Mandalay Region misused over 87 million kyats, it reported. A police security force for the crude oil industry in Yenangyaung misused over 20 million kyats and the Hopang district office misused over 400 million kyats, the report stated.
The Public Accounts Committee’s chairman, U Aung Min, told The Irrawaddy that the misused money from Mandalay, Sagaing and Yenangyaung was returned and the guilty police officers had been forced to retire and imprisoned.
“The checks were put towards monthly expenses such as salaries and other outgoings. But, in most cases, the checks were larger than the amount required. The officers and clerks from Mandalay, Sagaing and Yenangyaung are being punished and the money was returned,” U Aung Min said.
An investigation was continuing into the Hopang clerk who provided blank checks and the police major who filled them out, the chairman said.
“The authorities are trying to get back the money. No further details are known,” he added. “We are going to discuss the police’s misuse of money at the parliamentary session next week and how we will prevent such incidents.”
The Public Accounts Committee reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs had used about 50 percent of its total budget, 25.9 billion kyats, in the first six months of the 2018-19 financial year.
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