• Burmese
Saturday, May 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
24 °c
Ashburn
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Guest Column

World Bank Arm Considering Support for Businessman Linked to Blacklisted Bank

Seamus Martov by Seamus Martov
May 19, 2017
in Guest Column
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0 0
A A
Shwe Taung signs a licensing agreement with Microsoft at the Sedona Hotel in Rangoon in Nov. 2015. Shwe Taung’s founding chairman Aik Htun is pictured second from right. / The Irrawaddy

Shwe Taung signs a licensing agreement with Microsoft at the Sedona Hotel in Rangoon in Nov. 2015. Shwe Taung’s founding chairman Aik Htun is pictured second from right. / The Irrawaddy

7.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, is considering providing funding for a cement factory project in Mandalay Division’s Thazi District led by a division of the Shwe Taung Group, a conglomerate whose majority stake is held by the family of the company’s chairman, Aik Htun.

The US government previously alleged that Aik Htun had “connections with the narcotics trade” while running a now-defunct bank more than a decade ago that was also alleged to be involved in money laundering. These accusations were dismissed by the Sino-Burmese entrepreneur as falsehoods driven by petty jealousy.

The IFC posted details of its proposed involvement in the cement project last month on its website in line with the Washington-based group’s disclosure policy. The IFC plans to invest up to US$15 million in the project and provide a loan of up to US$20 million; the project’s total cost is estimated to be US$110 million.

RelatedPosts

Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

May 10, 2025
825
Naypyitaw Parliament Crumbles as Myanmar Junta’s Grand Ambitions Collapse 

Naypyitaw Parliament Crumbles as Myanmar Junta’s Grand Ambitions Collapse 

April 24, 2025
1.3k
Social Media and Street Protests: Myanmar’s Pushback Against Chinese Influence

Social Media and Street Protests: Myanmar’s Pushback Against Chinese Influence

April 17, 2025
1.5k

According to details disclosed by the IFC, the project—if it goes ahead—will involve the expansion of an existing cement factory run by Shwe Taung Cement in Pyi Nyaung Village. In addition to expanding the factory’s cement production capacity, it will also involve the construction of a Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) and an “improvement in emission control systems.” The IFC will be playing a key role in supporting the project. In addition to providing the aforementioned funding, the IFC says it is also looking to “mobilize up to US$20 million through syndication of Parallel Loans and up to US$20 million investment in common equity from IFC AMC Emerging Asia Fund (EAF).”

The Shwe Taung Cement group also operates an open pit coal mine in Sagaing Division that exclusively supplies the factory. According to the IFC’s outline of the project review, mining operations at this site will more than double from current levels of 60,000 tons of coal mined per year to an estimated 150,000 tons of coal per year. The IFC summary of the project acknowledged that a visit to the coal mining site by the IFC team in September 2016 during the project review process was not possible due “to access constraints” associated with the rainy season. The mine is some 4.6 km west of the Maharmyaing Wildlife Sanctuary, described by the IFC as an important bird area.

A native of Shan State, Aik Htun was a co-founder of the Asia Wealth Bank, of which he served as vice chairman. The bank was targeted for sanctions in Nov. 2003 by the Bush Administration who labeled it a “Financial Institutions of Primary Money Laundering Concern” using a provision granted under the 2001 Patriot Act. A summary in the US Federal Register accompanying the announcement of the proposed action against the bank described Aik Htun as having been “specifically identified as having connections with Burma’s narcotics trade.” The announcement also claimed that the bank was “affiliated with prominent organizations and figures in the drug trade, including members of the Kokang ethnic group headed by notorious drug lord Peng Chia-Sheng.” The latter is a reference to former the Burmese Communist Party rebel commander and long-time leader of the MNDAA Peng Jiasheng, who at the time was on good terms with the Burmese military regime.

A follow-up announcement issued in March 2004 announcing that the sanctions had been put into effect, declared that both the Asian Wealth Bank and Myanmar Mayflower Bank, another Burmese bank targeted by the US Treasury Department, were being used by their owners to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking. “Individuals owning and controlling both banks are linked to drug trafficking and money laundering, including using the banks for such purposes.”

In less than a decade since its founding in 1995, AWB had become Burma’s largest bank. A financial crisis in the country’s banking industry that culminated in a massive run on the bank in early 2003 untimely led to the demise of AWB, which eventually had its license withdrawn by government authorities in 2005. A move that the State Department described as being done in response to information passed on by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

According to a New York Times article from 2015, “After the United States imposed sanctions on Asia Wealth Bank and the Burmese authorities withdrew its license, Mr. Aik Htun changed the name of his corporate holdings, which were part of the same group as Asia Wealth Bank, to the Shwe Taung Group.”

Despite the obvious commercial setback associated with the fall out from AWB, Aik Htun’s other business interests in construction and real estate, including such high-profile projects as the building and operating of several malls including Rangoon’s Junction Square, appeared to do very well in the years that followed the bank’s demise.

A US diplomatic cable disclosed by Wikileaks, penned following a meeting between the businessman and diplomats in 2007 when Burma was still ruled by a military regime noted that “Aik Htun enjoys the regime’s confidence, and benefits handsomely from its business.” The cable went on to note Aik Htun’s annoyance at being subject to US restrictions on visa issuance before adding that “he seeks every opportunity to profess his innocence to Embassy employees.”

Aik Htun has also on at least one occasion publicly denied the claims about him and his now defunct bank, chalking up the allegations to rumor mongering by those envious of his success. “In Myanmar at that time the government was not transparent. There were so many rumors; [there was] so much jealousy,” he told the Financial Times in Nov. 2015.

Although he was previously on the European Union sanctions list, Aik Htun was noticeably absent from the US government’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which was expanded to include the names of prominent Burmese businessman in 2008, several years after his bank had already become defunct. An attempt by the Washington-based campaign group US Campaign for Burma to have Aik Htun and his son, Aung Zaw Naing, who serves as CEO for the Shwe Taung Group, added to the SDN list in 2011 was unsuccessful.

Aik Htun has claimed to have come from modest origins and through hard work has become the successful businessman that he is today, a narrative that has been called into question by some, including Australian economist Sean Turnell in his book on Burma’s banking crisis Fiery Dragons. According to Turnell, “Aik Htun maintained an elaborately constructed public image that belied the stories of his links to narcotics, and in numerous public appearances and press profiles, he affected a ‘rags to riches’ story that chronicled his rise from being the son of a small farmer from Mong Kung in Shan State. The narrative even included the vignette that he “walked two miles to school each day, after which he completed his chores on the farm.”

While it remains to be seen if the IFC’s board of directors will give the green light to Shwe Taung’s cement project at their meeting next month, the IFC’s involvement with Shwe Taung, is in many ways a test case for possible future involvement with other firms and individuals who were previously targeted by the US government for alleged connections to previous military regime and the drug trade, such as Asia World.

The IFC, whose primary focus is giving financial assistance and other support to businesses that invest in developing countries was, along with its parent the World Bank, largely absent from Burma until the lifting of most sanctions in 2012. Since the sanctions were lifted, the IFC has become involved in a number of Burmese projects including backing the expansion of Rangoon’s Shangri La hotel and a high-end apartment complex also operated by Shangri La, a firm controlled by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok.

The IFC is also currently assisting Burma’s government to

carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Hydropower Sector, an effort criticized by environmentalists in Kachin State opposed to further dam projects.

The IFC has also come under heavy criticism for its connection to a controversial coal mining project in Tenasserim Division, near the Thai border, that is run by a Thai mining firm whose bank shareholders the IFC has equity investments in.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: DevelopmentInvestment
Seamus Martov

Seamus Martov

...

Similar Picks:

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption
Burma

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption

by The Irrawaddy
September 14, 2023
28.6k

The arrest of ‘kickback king’ Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, once seen as a possible successor to Min Aung Hlaing, comes...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Arrests Thai Condo Buyers, Realtors as Currency Crashes
Business

Myanmar Junta Arrests Thai Condo Buyers, Realtors as Currency Crashes

by The Irrawaddy
June 4, 2024
27.6k

Monday’s arrests follow reports that Myanmar has become one of Thailand’s most lucrative markets for selling condos since the 2021...

Read moreDetails
Planeload of Cronies Accompany Myanmar Junta Boss on Russia Trip
Business

Planeload of Cronies Accompany Myanmar Junta Boss on Russia Trip

by Hein Htoo Zan
March 7, 2025
9.5k

Regime-linked businessmen are set to cash in on deals flowing from the 10 agreements signed between Russia and the Myanmar...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar’s Youth Flee—and They Aren’t Looking Back
Commentary

Myanmar’s Youth Flee—and They Aren’t Looking Back

by Aung Zaw
February 23, 2024
8.3k

In Thailand and farther afield, they join the wealthy and the educated who have already put down roots and invested...

Read moreDetails
Tracking the Business Empire of Myanmar Regime Stalwart Moe Aung and His Siblings
Investigation

Tracking the Business Empire of Myanmar Regime Stalwart Moe Aung and His Siblings

by Aung Thit
September 4, 2023
7k

In the second of a two-part series, The Irrawaddy’s Investigation Desk examines more of the vast business interests of the children of...

Read moreDetails
With Proposed Security Gambit, Beijing Decides ‘Enough Is Enough’ in Myanmar
Analysis

With Proposed Security Gambit, Beijing Decides ‘Enough Is Enough’ in Myanmar

by The Irrawaddy
November 21, 2024
4.9k

China’s establishment of a joint venture security company with the junta to safeguard BRI projects in Myanmar shows it no...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Trucks carrying logs on Thanlyin-Kyauktan Road in Rangoon. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Mandalay Division Govt Takes Tough Line on Illegal Logging

Nationalists in Mandalay travel to Naypyidaw on Friday to join a protest against the religious affairs minister U Aung Ko. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

Nationalists Prepare for Protest Against Religious Affairs Minister

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Breaking the 60-Year Political Cycle in Myanmar

Breaking the 60-Year Political Cycle in Myanmar

5 days ago
1.1k
How Myanmar Junta Uses Air Force to Fight Its Corner

How Myanmar Junta Uses Air Force to Fight Its Corner

3 days ago
1.1k

Most Read

  • Ousted Myanmar Envoy to UK Charged With Trespass in London Residence Row

    Ousted Myanmar Envoy to UK Charged With Trespass in London Residence Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Three Japanese Firms Ditch Myanmar Port Project

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Leader Scores Diplomatic Win With Xi Meeting in Moscow

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Abandons Chinese Pipeline Amid Resistance Attacks

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.