YANGON — President U Win Myint nominated Tanintharyi Region’s minister of natural resources and environmental conservation to replace Chief Minister Daw Lei Lei Maw, who was fired immediately after her arrest on corruption charges earlier this month.
Tanintharyi Region Parliament Speaker U Khin Maung Aye told The Irrawaddy that the legislature received the nomination on Monday and that he has called lawmakers to an emergency session on Friday to discuss it.
The regional minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, U Myint Maung, has been serving as acting chief minister since Daw Lei Lei Maw’s arrest on March 10.
The ousted chief minister was arrested after a month-long investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) along with Global Grand Services Managing Director U Thein Htwe, Director U Aung Myat and General Manager U Thura Ohn. The ACC opened cases against all four under the Anti-Corruption Law.
The ACC said Daw Lei Lei Maw misused her position on a number of occasions since April 2016, just weeks after she was appointed. A day after her arrest, the President’s Office announced that she had been fired.
U Khin Maung Aye said he believed U Myint Maung was the right person for the job because he had experience serving in the regional cabinet and had overseen the local mining industry well over the past three years.
U Myint Maung was elected to the local legislature to represent Kawthaung Township in the 2015 general election representing the National League for Democracy, which came to power in same poll. He is also the NLD secretary for Tanintharyi Region.
“There is not much time to address all the problems that the region is facing, but I hope he can solve a few of them in the remaining term,” U Khin Maung Aye said.
