Some cronies of Myanmar’s ruling generals like to keep a low profile, and one of them is Dr. Mya Han, the boss of the Fortune International Group.
Yet his list of titles is impressively long. The treasurer of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Myanmar Livestock Federation, he is also a key shareholder and director in Myanmar National Tele & Communications Co. Ltd., better known by its acronym Mytel—a joint venture between Star High Co., owned by the Myanmar military, Viettal Global, controlled by the Vietnamese military, and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Co. .Ltd (MNTH), a consortium of 11 local companies.
Mya Han is the MNTH representative at Mytel, sitting on the boards of directors of three companies in the consortium—Royal Yatanarpon Telecom Public Co. Ltd. and Mahar Yoma Public Co., which hold the largest and second largest share in the consortium, and Myanmar Information & Communication Technology Development Corporation.
The infographic here represents data The Irrawaddy acquired shortly after the coup, so there may be changes to the share percentages now.
Shareholders in Mahar Yoma
Mya Han’s daughters Mya Malar Han and Lin Latt Win are also shareholders and directors in Mahar Yoma, making the family the biggest shareholder in the firm.
The second-largest shareholder is Thein Win Zaw, the chairman of Shwe Byain Phyu Co., which bought Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor’s Myanmar subsidiary, and renamed it Atom Myanmar Ltd. Thein Win Zaw is also a director in Atom Myanmar.
The birth of Mytel
Mya Han was one of the founders of Yatanarpon Teleport Co., established in August 2009 under the previous junta, the State Peace and Development Council.
This was a joint venture between the Communications Ministry and the private sector. The regime established Yatanarpon Cyber City in 2006 in the garrison town of Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region.
It went public in 2013 with generals and their top cronies dominating the board of directors. Among them were Mya Han, ex-military officer Soe Thein (who would become a director in Mytel), Min Zeya Hlaing (son-in-law of former Lieutenant-General Khin Maung Than), U Zaw Min (a shareholder in the Htoo Group of Companies owned by tycoon Tay Za), Daw Aye Aye Aung from Asia World (Myanmar’s largest conglomerate owned by drug lord Lo Hsing Han) and Yan Win (A 1 Group of Companies), and so on.
Min Zeya Hlaing married the daughter of Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than, who served as the chief of Yangon Command from 1995 to 2001.
Zaw Min is a business partner of notorious arms broker Tay Za, and previously vice president of the now defunct carrier Air Bagan. According to corporate data, he is also a director of Elite Telecom Public Co., a subsidiary of HGC, and a shareholder in Htoo Jewelry Co.
According to WikiLeaks, he arranged chartered flights for junta generals on their foreign trips.
Aye Aye Aung joined the Asia World Group of Companies in 1995 and is a director in three subsidiaries—Asia World Industries Co., Asia Mega Link Co., and Asia Mega Link Services Co. She is also a member of the Central Executive Committee of Yangon International Airport’s Information Technology Communication Center.
Yan Win, now chairman of the A 1 Group of Companies, has been a prominent businessman since the 1990s with his A 1 Construction Co.
Yatanarpon Teleport was later renamed Royal Yatanarpon Telecom Public Co., but the same people hold the reins.
A Reuters report in December 2014 revealed that Viettal Global was then negotiating with Yatanarpon Teleport to invest US$ 800 million in telecom infrastructure. Mytel acquired the nationwide telecommunications license three years later, and operations started in 2018. Royal Yatanarpon Telecom became the largest shareholder in the consortium.
Nay Aung, the chairman of IGE Group, is also a shareholder in Royal Yatanarpon Telecom since his International Power Generation Public Co. has a 1.23 percent stake in the company.
Ties between Fortune International and Defense Ministry
Mya Han acquired 20.837 acres of land owned by the Defense Ministry’s Quartermaster General Office on Mindama Road in Yangon’s Mayangone Township for the Mindama Complex project.
The lease was originally signed in 2014 between the Quartermaster General Office and the military-owned conglomerate Myanma Economic Corporation, and Mya Han then leased the land from MEC.
The lease period is 50 years, and the military stands to earn a $22.92 million premium and nearly 225 million kyats in annual rent, according to the contract seen by The Irrawaddy.
One of the signatories is Captain Than Swe, a representative of the military-owned Star High Co., one of the three parties in Mytel.
In December 2018, Mya Han established Goldman Fortune International Ltd., ostensibly based in Hong Kong, together with three Chinese citizens. It pledged to invest $350 million in building the Mindama Complex. The project was approved in November 2019 by the Myanmar Investment Commission.
Yet the land lease puts the investment at only 235,889 million kyats: calculated at an average exchange rate of 1,400 kyats per dollar then, that amounts to no more than $168 million.
The Irrawaddy was unable to find out the details of the business deal between Mya Han and his Chinese partners, which leaves the question how to account for the gap of around $180 million between the two figures.
‘Crony Beach’ resort
Mya Han also owns Blue Oceanic Bay Resort on the palm-fringed Ngapali Beach—nicknamed “Crony Beach”—in Rakhine State. That land, too, is leased from the Quartermaster General Office, according to advocate group Justice for Myanmar.
The Irrawaddy has learned that Mya Han won approval in 2015 to build a hotel on 5.65 acres of land leased from the office.
Elevating Myanmar’s juntas
Mya Han is also the key supplier of elevators and related services to the Defense, Home, Foreign, Finance and Planning, and Rail Transportation ministries, with his Fortune International Group acting as the agent and distributor for Korea’s Sigma Elevator (previously LG Elevator) in Myanmar since 1991.
When the company marked its name change from LG to Sigma in a ceremony at the Traders Hotel in Yangon in 2001, later prime minister and intelligence chief Khin Nyunt attended the event in his capacity as secretary of the SPDC.
Fortune also distributes elevators and escalators from Suzhou Fuji and Hyundai Elevator and is the official distributor for Hyundai Motor.
Internet and broadcasting business
A businessman at the forefront of Myanmar’s telecom industry, Mya Han has won contracts to provide 2600 MHz wireless communication services in Naypyitaw, Magwe, Bago and Tanintharyi regions and Mon and Karen states.
His company also provides high-speed fiber internet services and counts the U.S. and British embassies among its customers, according to its website.
The company was one of five that won broadcasting licenses under the now-ousted National League for Democracy government in 2018. Fortune TV aired its first broadcast on Feb. 16, 2019.
Fortune International also distributes pharmaceuticals and produces animal feed.
Business partners
Mya Han has close ties to IGE boss Nay Aung, partnering in fuel import and distribution.
Both are directors in New Day Energy Co. and New Day Energy Services Co., which boast one of the largest networks of filling stations in Myanmar.
When state-owned filling stations were privatized after Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government came to power, New Day Energy took over 19 filling stations—the second largest number to have been obtained at the time.
The company won a license to build an oil terminal in Thilawa Port on the outskirts of Yangon in February 2014, while IGE won the same license from Myanmar Investment Commission in March 2013.
Just five months after the military coup, in July 2021, the two tycoons partnered to establish New Day IGE Energy Co. The Irrawaddy was unable to find out much about their business operations.
Another partner is Thein Win Zaw of telecom firm Atom Myanmar. The U.S. imposed sanctions against Thein Win Zaw, his wife and children on Jan. 31 over their business ties to the regime.
Following the sanction, Atom Myanmar said in February that Thein Win Zaw, his wife and son had stepped down from the board of directors, and Myancom Holding Ltd. had taken over their company Shwe Byain Phyu’s partial ownership of the network.
Besides Mya Han and Thein Win Zaw both being directors of Mahar Yoma in the Mytel consortium, Thein Win Zaw’s son Win Paing Kyaw is a director in Han Yoma Energy, which is owned by Mya Han.
