Tun Min Latt, a wealthy Myanmar tycoon in his mid 50s, is close to Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and landed on the United States’ sanctions list in 2023 for supplying the regime with weapons. He is perhaps best known, however, for spending 16 months in detention in Thailand on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. Arrested in Bangkok in September 2022, he appeared in a Thai court in January 2023, shackled by the ankles and denying all charges. He was abruptly acquitted on all counts a year later and released in January 2024.
His sudden release raised a lot of questions among observers in Myanmar, where the outcome of his case is widely considered bizarre and outrageous. Besides his connections to coup maker and war criminal Min Aung Hlaing, the reclusive tycoon is also known to be close to several Thai politicians including former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who remains a highly influential and polarizing figure in Thai politics despite being ousted in a coup in 2006 and spending 15 years in self-imposed exile, mostly in Dubai.
Thaksin’s return to Thailand on Aug. 22, 2023 led to speculation that he had struck a deal with military-linked parties to reduce his prison sentence, which was commuted by the king from eight years to one—of which he served six months, passing the time in a hospital. Thaksin returned to public life and remains visible, even offering to be a peace broker in Myanmar, presumably by leveraging his long-lasting relationships with the neighboring country’s generals and tycoons.
Since walking out of prison, Tun Min Latt has dropped out of sight. His apparent exoneration prompted The New York Times to ask a very legitimate question: Is he now free to resume his activities aiding the junta?
Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia, told the Times, “It’s hard to believe that a Burmese tycoon that many have referred to as being junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s bagman got off.” He added, “The only people happy with this outcome are the junta generals who are increasingly desperate to find resources and, quite clearly, Tun Min Latt has proved very helpful in that regard in the past.”
Min Aung Hlaing and his wife Kyu Kyu Hla are close to Tun Min Latt and his wife Dr. Win Min Soe, who is part of Myanmar’s “First Wives Club”. The couple has a long list of powerful friends and are known to be well protected in Myanmar.
Proximity to power is often the cronies’ main competitive advantage as well as a source of protection. When they stray from that center of authority – or travel beyond Myanmar’s borders – they can find themselves in trouble, as Tun Min Latt found out, at least temporarily.
So, who is Tun Min Latt?
Little known to the public before he accompanied some of Myanmar’s top brass, including military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, on a weapons-buying trip around the world in 2015, Tun Min Latt has emerged in recent years as one of the top arms brokers in the country. The 2015 trip included a historic visit to Israel—the first to the Jewish state by a Myanmar military leader since the late dictator General Ne Win’s trip in 1959. Tun Min Latt has particularly close ties with several Israeli arms manufacturers, who have become an important source of weapons and surveillance equipment for the Myanmar military.
Israel’s relationship with Myanmar is an interesting one. Apart from a period in the 1980s during which contact was limited, the two countries have enjoyed a mostly warm friendship that goes back to the 1950s. The relationship came under increased scrutiny after the 1988 military coup in Myanmar, which was accompanied by a ruthless crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests. After much of the international community imposed sanctions on the country in 1991, Israeli weapons manufacturers stepped in to keep the regime stocked with arms, reportedly selling submachine guns and 150mm howitzers to the Tatmadaw. Other Israeli companies became key suppliers of digital and telecommunications systems. When the country started to open up in the 2010s, the Myanmar and Israeli militaries deepeneed their relationship. The flow of weapons from Israel has continued uninterrupted ever since, even after the Myanmar military seized power from a democratically elected government in yet another coup in 2021, triggering massive protests and eventually a nationwide armed uprising.
As the sole representative of Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in Myanmar, Tun Min Latt has played a key role in helping the regime import surveillance drones and sophisticated hacking software from Israel as well as spyware used to crack down on dissent following the coup. He has also brokered deals with Israel Shipyards Ltd. to supply patrol boats.
During their 2015 visit to Israel, Min Aung Hlaing’s delegation toured the Ashdod Naval Base to inspect FAC Super Dvora Mark 3 patrol boats, an unknown number of which were subsequently ordered by the Tatmadaw, visited several Israeli factories and also bought reconnaissance drones and aircraft parts for the Myanmar Air Force.
Some of those drones, Elbit Systems’ Skylark UAVs, were later used by the Myanmar military in its operations in western Myanmar, where it has been accused of committing war crimes against the Rakhine people and Muslim minorities.
In addition to arms dealing, Tun Min Latt’s main business vehicle, Star Sapphire Group, is a key partner of the two main military-run business conglomerates—Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC)—in numerous ventures, ranging from utilities to casinos.
Son of an Air Force officer
Tun Min Latt’s rise to becoming an influential arms dealer owes much to his family’s connections. His father, U Khin Maung Latt, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
Born in 1943, Khin Maung Latt served in the Air Force after attending the Defense Services Academy (DSA) in Pyin Oo Lwin (also known as May Myo). As part of his training, he attended a two-year course at the Air University in Montgomery, Alabama in the US.
After retiring from the military in 1995, he joined the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, rising to become the director general of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism. From 1995, he assumed the top position at the ministry under the military regime led by Senior General Than Shwe. He held the position for 10 years, becoming the longest-serving director-general at the ministry.
As the chief ambassador for Myanmar as a tourism destination in the international market, Khin Maung Latt developed a reputation for making odd or incongruous public statements.
In 2002, he said Myanmar’s national airline had only one plane, making it hard for some foreign travelers to reach the country even if they had a visa. When the well-documented use of prisoners to build roads and beautify ancient moats and walls to make historical sites more attractive to tourists became an international news story, his response was to assure potential visitors they had no need to worry because Myanmar was one of the “safest” destinations in the world.
Through such positions, and as chairman and patron of state-owned Myanmar Airways International, Khin Maung Latt was able to build up a network of powerful connections. He was particularly close to the owners of the Kanbawza Group, a huge conglomerate with strong ties to the top generals in Myanmar.
He used this influence to help his son enter the tourism sector, setting up hotels and tourism businesses locally and developing an expansive network abroad. This is a common practice among the military elite in Myanmar.
One of Tun Min Latt’s favorite spots to invest was Tachileik, a notorious gambling and drugs hub in Shan State on the border with Thailand. In partnership with Thai investors, Tun Min Latt opened a casino resort there in the early 2000s. (Gambling is illegal in Myanmar.) Among the most important relationships he developed at this time was his partnership with a former Thai Foreign Ministry official, Upakit Pachariyangkun, owner of the Allure Group in Thailand. In 2000, the two founded a subsidiary, Myanmar Allure Group (MAG), to operate the casino in Tachileik, with both holding positions as directors of the company.
The casino, Allure Resort, is a 4.5-hectare hotel, resort and gambling facility. It was built on the site of the state-owned Shan Yoma Guest House, on prime riverfront land, and officially opened in 2003.
Located close to the popular tourist city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, Allure Resort is a five-minute walk from the border and offers a variety of entertainment activities including gambling, shopping and “cultural sightseeing”. Its clientele is mostly Chinese and Thai businessmen, who travel there for gambling and the “entertainment” provided by Thai sex workers.
The resort provides a free shuttle service between Chiang Rai Airport in Thailand and the hotel in Tachileik. The Allure is one of two casinos in the city—the other being Regina Entertainment Resort, which also operates with the blessing of the military.
While casinos are illegal, a contract drawn up in 1999 between the military junta and Allure Group specified that the resort was allowed to include “electric and electronic machines, slot machines, and all sorts of recreation and entertainment”.
The drafting and signing of that agreement was overseen by Khin Maung Latt in his position as director general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. Keeping the deal a close family affair, the casino was also built by Tun Min Latt’s Star Sapphire group, according to Justice for Myanmar (JFM), an activist group.
The original agreement specified an annual lease payment to the military-controlled Directorate of Hotels and Tourism of US$120,000, or 6 percent of total gross revenue.
According to Myanmar Investment Commission documents released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a whistleblower website, a new deed was signed in November 2017 (during the National League for Democracy government) in which the ministry transferred all rights, titles and interests in the casino to the Myanmar Army’s Office of the Quartermaster-General. Upakit signed the 2017 contract as chairperson of Allure Group.
Under the new contract, a 6 percent share of the casino’s revenue went straight to the military. The new lease allowed the Myanmar military and Allure Group to hide the payments from parliamentary and auditor-general scrutiny, under a system designed to protect the military’s business interests.
For almost two decades, the casino proved to be a successful cash cow for MAG and the Myanmar generals.
In 2019, however, Upakit resigned from the board of MAG and sold his shares in the company so that he could take up a seat in a new Thai Senate that was being assembled by Thailand’s ruling military junta led by then Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha. His replacement at Myanmar Allure was his son-in-law, a Thai named Dean Young Gultula, who is married to Upakit’s daughter Adisara.
In addition to operating the casino, the company has also expanded into utility services, setting up Andaman Power & Utility (APU) to supply electricity to Tachileik. Formerly Dawei Power and Utility Company Limited, APU has branch offices in Chiang Rai, Bangkok, Naypyitaw and Dawei in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region. According to APU’s own website, Upakit is described as the “chairman and founder” while both he and Tun Min Latt also hold positions as directors.
APU also claims to have been designated by the 2011-2016 government led by then President Thein Sein and the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party as the sole power provider for Dawei, the site of a controversial special economic zone and deep-sea port project, despite the company’s lack of experience in the energy sector.
In 2013, Star Sapphire Hotel Company, which is owned by Tun Min Latt and his wife, was also awarded a build-operate-transfer contract to turn a century-old colonial building into the Hotel Dawei, a 122–room hotel and business center, by the USDP-led government, despite protests from local people.
The Ministry of Home Affairs owned the land that the project was built on. The project was a reward to Tun Min Latt for his services to Min Aung Hlaing, who was raised in Dawei, formerly known as Tavoy.
Tun Min Latt was also reportedly involved in Tha Byu Mining Co. Ltd., which conducted antimony mining operations in an area controlled by Karen insurgents near the Three Pagodas Pass close to Dawei on the Myanmar Thailand border. According to JFM, the company was awarded a large-scale production sharing license for antimony mining in 2001, under the former military junta, covering an area of almost 1,620 hectares.
Over the years, Star Sapphire Group has been an active donor to the military, notably on Armed Forces Day each March 27. It would also regularly give large sums of money during Min Aung Hlaing’s routine inspection visits to the countryside, though these days he is largely confined to Naypyitaw after losing so much territory to resistance groups.
According to a 2019 UN document, Tun Min Latt’s company made donations totaling $71,500 to the Myanmar military in 2017, a year during which the military committed atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.
In 2019, in another sign of their cozy ties, Tun Min Latt traveled to an arms fair in Bangkok with Min Aung Hlaing.
In August 2022, British authorities sanctioned Star Sapphire Group of Companies in what they called an “effort to limit the military’s access to arms and revenue”, saying the company “has been responsible for the brokering of deals for military goods.”
The following month, the Royal Thai Police raided Tun Min Latt’s apartment at the Belle Grand Rama 9 condominium complex in Bangkok, seizing $8.96 million worth of assets including luxury cars, watches and expensive bags, along with $239,091 in cash. Tun Min Latt was arrested on suspecion of trafficking drugs and money laundering. Also arrested were three Thais including Dean Young Gultula. Most seriously, Thai police said over Bt200 million ($5.4 million) worth of drugs and other items were confiscated from the Thais.
Tun Min Latt’s life of easy cross-border travel and business came to a crashing halt.
Reuters reported that Tun Min Latt’s arrest was part of a broader Thai crackdown on money laundering in Tachileik and that Thai officials had been monitoring his activities long before the dawn raid.
Upakit came to Tun Min Latt’s defense, telling Thai media he didn’t believe the Myanmar businessman was involved in the illegal drug trade but “conducts honest business”. He added that Tun Min Latt made his money by selling arms to the Myanmar junta.
In the past, Upakit and Tun Min Latt flew together in private jets to inspect projects in southern Myanmar and often went to Tachileik, where they enjoyed playing golf and taking part in the various leisure activities on offer.
According to the Bangkok Post, the Thai police also turned up assets including title deeds and bankbooks belonging to the adult children of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing during the raid on the Bangkok apartment.
Min Aung Hlaing’s son Aung Pyae Sone and daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon faced no legal action over the confiscated assets, and Thai authorities said they did not consider them relevant to the investigation against Tun Min Latt. But Myanmar activist groups have alleged that the discovery indicated Min Aung Hlaing’s family was hiding assets in Thailand. They urged the Thai government to take action to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for Myanmar war criminals accessing Thai banks and property, and to freeze assets stolen from the people of Myanmar.
At the very least, the official asset seizure record dated Sept. 17, 2022—which includes a 2017 purchase contract for a four-bedroom unit in the same condo complex in the name of Aung Pyae Sone, along with two Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) bankbooks for accounts in the name of Khin Thiri Thet Mon—reveals Tun Min Latt’s deep ties to the junta leader’s family.
Myanmar exiled media reported that Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon flew to Bangkok after the raid to ask local authorities to remove their names from the case.
In 2023, Min Aung Hlaing followed this up with a personal request to Thai authorities to help remove his daughter’s name from the Tun Min Latt case, according to sources close to the investigation.
In the end, Tun Min Latt was released and his Thai business partners freed on bail. Thai policemen spearheading the arrest were transferred out of Bangkok. Maddeningly, if not surprisingly, the case has been closed.
Tun Min Latt, it seems, is free to resume his activities helping the junta buying more lethal weapons from Israel.
