Last week, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing warned of heavy punishments for corrupt officials in his regime.
During a meeting of his regime’s governing body, the State Administration Council (SAC), Min Aung Hlaing warned that senior military officers and ministers entrusted with key positions would, if caught abusing their power for personal benefit, face heavy penalties in addition to dismissal.
Min Aung Hlaing’s henchman Moe Myint Tun and former home affairs minister Soe Htut are being interrogated for corruption, and have been purged from the SAC.
Political analyst Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw said of the purge: “[Myanmar military generals] put so much effort into defending the military dictatorship because of the personal benefits they can gain from it. They look for a scapegoat when the situation of the country becomes very bad. So, [the two generals] were scapegoated.”
Despite Min Aung Hlaing’s highly publicized anti-graft campaign, it is common knowledge that his son Aung Pyae Sone and daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon have abused their father’s power to amass great wealth.
Min Aung Hlaing has acquired numerous luxury mansions in Yangon, Naypyitaw and Pyin Oo Lwin. He has four mansions and land in Yangon alone, including two in the commercial capital’s most affluent neighborhood.
The parallel National Unity Government auctioned off the mansion at 14 Inya Road, raising US$10 million to help fund its revolution.
Min Aung Hlaing is having yet another a mansion built near the residence of former military dictator Than Shwe in Naypyitaw, reported the BBC. The neighborhood is known as the “Row of Six”, as six retired generals including Than Shwe, his deputy Maung Aye and ex-president Thein Sein live there.
Even before Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup in 2021, his son Aung Pyae Sone was awarded a 30-year permit to rent land in People’s Park in Yangon, without facing any competing bids. The rent is almost free, and Aung Pyae Sone runs Yangon Restaurant and Yangon Gallery on it.
Following the coup, the US imposed sanctions against Aung Pyae Sone, Khin Thiri Thet Mon and their six companies in 2021. The UK also sanctioned Sky One Construction Co., owned by Aung Pyae Sone, in 2022.
Companies owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s family are involved in medical supplies, hospitals, construction, hotels, transportation, film production and entertainment, insurance, telecommunications, an art gallery, restaurants and a gym, according to the NUG’s Commerce Ministry.
Sky One Construction Co. owned by Aung Pyae Sone has benefitted from construction projects awarded by the Myanmar military.
The company was awarded contracts to build a new ward at the military hospital in Yangon’s Mingaladon Township, to construct a media center for the regime’s mouthpiece Myawaddy TV in the compound of the military records office, and to build the private Moe Kaung Treasure Maternal and Child Hospital, which is owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s family and is also inside the military records office compound.
It has also won contracts to expand two military air bases, Cocogyun and Hmawbi, in Yangon Region. Business sources said that Sky One makes huge profits from military-linked projects, as the Myanmar military pays whatever price is quoted by the company.
Min Aung Hlaing has made it mandatory for all military personnel to buy life insurance at Aung Myint Moh Min Insurance Co., which is owned by Aune Pyae Soe.
When junta arms broker Myanmar national Tun Min Latt was arrested by Thai authorities in Bangkok last year, over 200 million baht ($5.4 million) worth of drugs and other items were confiscated from him.
Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a covert activist group tracking the junta’s businesses, said that among the items confiscated from Tun Min Latt was the title document of a four-bedroom condo worth nearly $1 million in Bangkok’s Belle Rama 9 complex belonging to Aung Pyae Sone.
Also among the seized items were two Siam Commercial Bank passbooks belonging to Khin Thiri Thet Mon.
Khin Thiri Thet Mon, who has interests in the arts and entertainment, established Seventh Sense Co. Ltd. in 2017. Spending billions of kyats annually, it became a leading company in Myanmar’s film industry. Faced with widespread criticisms following the coup, she has changed the name of her entertainment company to SM Winner Production, which recently screened a film.
She is believed to be involved in a number of yellow press media outlets that exaggerate gossip about celebrities in a bid to distract members of the public from the junta’s atrocities and human rights violations.
Anti-regime activist and prominent filmmaker Na Gyi told The Irrawaddy: “People must boycott all the films and serials produced by the company owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter. They can still join the revolution by doing so.”
Khin Thiri Thet Mon also has a stake in Investcom PTE Ltd., which bought Norwegian telecom firm Telenor’s operation in Myanmar.
Though Min Aung Hlaing often urges civil servants, and the public in general, to tighten their belts, and has imposed increased tax rates, Myanmar people are well aware—thanks to the junta’s media—that Min Aung Hlaing, his wife Kyu Kyu Hla and their family members only use luxury items.
The new appointee to the SAC, Lieutenant General Nyo Saw, is chairman of the Myanmar military-owned conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and also protects Min Aung Hlaing’s family business.
Min Aung Hlaing has a substantial interest in Kan Thar Yar Hospital, which opened in December 2017, although it is officially registered as a business of the MEC. Nyo Saw oversaw the construction of the private hospital on the shore of Inya Lake in Yangon’s most affluent neighborhood.
Medics and physicians from military hospitals have to serve for free at Kan Thar Yar Hospital.
Nyo Saw was also involved with another private hospital owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s family, Moe Kaung Treasure Maternal and Child Hospital, which opened in early May 2021, a few months after the putsch.
Other businesses owned by Min Aung Hlaing’s family include: A & M Mahar Foods and Medical Products Company; Everfit Co. Ltd., a gym and fitness business in Yangon; Stellar Seven Entertainment Co Ltd; Azura Beach Resort in Chaung Tha, Ayeyarwady Region; Mytel Telecom Company; Bone Myat Pyae Sone Trading Company (Limited); the JOOX MYANMAR Music platform; the Pullman Hotel in Mandalay; Nyein Chan Pyae Soe Bus Terminal; Myanmar Sit Thu Gyi; Min Tayar Gyi; Winning Sky; True Golf; and Nyein Chan Pyae Sone Manufacturing & Trading Co Ltd.
They also have interests in fuel imports, electricity generation and other projects.
“If Min Aung Hlaing is to be punished for corruption, not only must his possessions be seized, but his relatives and descendants must also be punished,” Myanmar military defector Lin Htet Aung, a former captain who has joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, told The Irrawaddy.
While many people have been forced to queue for rice and cooking oil sold by the regime for prices lower than market rates, even Min Aung Hlaing’s assistant Moe Myint Tun was able to make millions of US dollars over the past 30 months. So, it is safe to assume that Min Aung Hlaing’s family has become the cream of Myanmar’s league of cronies.
“Corruption in various forms already exists from the top to the bottom levels of the military. The military chief and deputy military chief have amassed wealth through corruption and dirty businesses. So have the senior leaders in the military,” another defector, former captain Nyi Thuta, told The Irrawaddy.
Critics say Min Aung Hlaing was forced to purge his comrades from the inner circle because they had lined their own pockets too blatantly.
“Min Aung Hlaing deserves to be punished severely. He has committed many crimes of corruption. He committed corruption before he seized power, when he became military chief. He continued to commit corruption after becoming the military chief. He has committed many crimes of corruption as the coup leader since the coup,” said Lin Htet Aung. “After the revolution succeeds, generals and coup leaders should no longer enjoy impunity like they did before. They must be punished for corruption and other crimes they have committed,” he said.
