The Burmese military's role in the economy
Individual Documents
Sub-title:
Press ASEAN Members to Adopt Similar Measures
Description:
"Australia was among a host of countries that imposed fresh sanctions on Myanmar on February 1, the third anniversary of the military coup. The government added five businesses to its list of 16 individuals sanctioned since 2021.
Australia has targeted two banks that help fund Myanmar’s junta and its arms purchases, the Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank. The sanctions also target three other entities, Asia Sun Group, Asia Sun Trading Co Ltd, and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co Ltd, for their role in supplying jet fuel to the security forces: the same fuel that the military has used to carry out unlawfully indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians.
Other governments had already taken action to limit the junta’s access to funding and jet fuel for the military. In June 2023, the United States sanctioned the two banks that Australia is now targeting. Canada has imposed comprehensive sanctions on jet fuel, while the European Union, United Kingdom and United States took steps to target Myanmar entities helping to purchase and supply jet fuel.
Until now, Australia has hesitated to impose more sanctions out of concern for its relations with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). No ASEAN countries have unilaterally sanctioned the junta, and Australia joined with other governments to back the bloc’s ineffectual efforts to get the military to end its abuses.
Although Australia may have been slow to realize that targeted sanctions are crucial and need not compromise relations with ASEAN, they can still be effective.
The US action against Myanmar’s banks prompted Singapore to cut ties between its Singapore-based United Overseas Bank and corresponding banks in Myanmar. In December, the Myanmar central bank announced it would stop setting foreign exchange rates, suggesting the junta’s inability to access outside currencies. The sanctions are having an impact.
When it hosts a special summit with ASEAN members in Melbourne in March, Australia should press bloc members to enforce these sanctions in their own jurisdictions.
Stronger measures are still possible: Australia should consider imposing sanctions against companies and individuals in the extractives industries. The Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise and other military-owned mining entities still collect the lion’s share of revenue for the junta.
By taking a necessary step to help stop Myanmar military abuses, Australia shouldn’t stop now..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2024-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-05
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"Australian companies, executives and investors are continuing to operate in Myanmar’s junta-dominated mining sector three years after the military launched a brutal and illegal attempted coup.
A new Justice For Myanmar report, Mines Against Humanity, reveals the Australian owned and led companies that are engaged in extraction, exploration and services that provide the junta with revenue, or support the maintenance of a sector that bankrolls junta atrocities.
Companies are wrongly treating the illegal junta as if it were the government of Myanmar. The junta is not the legitimate government of Myanmar and has failed to take effective control of Myanmar’s territory because of the sustained and courageous mass resistance of the Myanmar people.
The junta has responded with a war of terror through indiscriminate air strikes and shelling, the killing of more than 4,400 people, rape, torture, the arbitrary arrest of more than 25,800, the destruction of whole communities and the displacement of more than 2.3 million.
The continued Australian presence in Myanmar’s mining sector is a result of Australia’s failure to impose sanctions on the junta’s sources of funds, and a lack of guidance on Australia’s expectations for responsible business in Myanmar.
This report documents 10 company networks that have remained active in Myanmar following the coup attempt and highlights six company networks that are not currently active in the mining sector but remain registered in Myanmar and require monitoring should they resume operations under the junta. These include:
Valentis, a sprawling network of companies backed by Australian investors set up by brothers closely connected to the military. Among Valentis’s activities, Justice For Myanmar’s investigation uncovered an apparent visit to a MEC coal project since the coup attempt, the provision of services to a Myanmar arms broker and business links to a militia under junta control.
Cornerstone Resources – a company thought to be owned by prominent Australian prospector Mark Creasy, and that has an Australian address, has continued to mine and refine zinc in Shan state following the military’s coup attempt. Justice For Myanmar uncovered transactions with military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which may breach UK sanctions given its previous registration in the British Virgin Islands at the time of the transactions.
The Australian branch of the global consulting firm Knight Piésold is providing environmental services to the China owned Wanbao Mining for copper mines that operate in partnership with military conglomerate Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). Services were provided as recently as 2023 and it is uncertain whether Knight Piésold is interpreting their contractual obligations consistently with the due diligence exception in the Australian Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 to avoid breaching the sanctions against MEHL.
The Australia-based miner PanAust has maintained its large-scale exploration licences in Sagaing, a region ravaged in the junta’s campaign of terror. By paying fees to the junta, it helps fund its atrocities.
Asia Pacific Mining Limited, a company with Australian executives, has been communicating with senior members of the junta to continue and expand its exploration activities under cover of the military’s coup attempt.
Even after the coup attempt and amid local opposition, Australian-led company Access Resources Asia has been pushing ahead with gold exploration in eastern Shan state.
Australian Laboratory Services (ALS), listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, has maintained its business in Myanmar following the military’s coup attempt and has done mineral testing for Access Resources Asia and junta-controlled universities.
Justice For Myanmar calls on Australia to immediately impose sanctions on mining enterprises controlled by the junta; to widen sanctions against the junta’s sources of funds, arms and jet fuel, in coordination with its allies; and to investigate sanctions-busting activity and penalise or prosecute companies and individuals as appropriate.
Justice For Myanmar calls on companies operating in Myanmar to follow the laws, policies and guidance of the legitimate federal bodies, including the National Unity Government (NUG), National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), applicable state councils, and relevant Ethnic Resistance Organisations, and to fulfil their responsibilities under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Under the NUG’s Three-Pillar Framework Guiding Responsible Investment and Continued Operations, companies should avoid all business with the junta and fulfil contractual obligations to the state by paying funds into an escrow account for the lawful and legitimate government of Myanmar.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “It is unacceptable that three years after the military’s illegal coup attempt, Australia is still failing to take necessary action to block the junta’s sources of funds from mining and other lucrative sectors.
“The Myanmar military operates as a cartel that is stealing the wealth of the people of Myanmar on a massive scale to fund its war of terror and enrich war criminals.
“Yet, there are Australian companies, executives and investors in the mining sector that are continuing business as usual, financing the illegitimate junta and helping to keep a corrupt and destructive mining sector open for business.
“Australia needs to act now to impose sanctions on the junta, its businesses, and cronies, and stop Australians from directly and indirectly providing funds and other forms of support to the junta.
“Australian owned and led businesses in Myanmar should follow the laws, policies and guidance of the legitimate federal bodies, including the NUG, NUCC, applicable state councils, and relevant EROs, and fulfil their international human rights responsibilities.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2024-01-30
Date of entry/update:
2024-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Human Rights and international relations
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"The United States announced updates to the first business advisory for Myanmar. The supplemental advisory, jointly issued by the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, Labor, and Homeland Security, and the Office of the US Trade Representative, includes the identification of additional sectors and activities of concern, notably mining, timber and jet fuel. Businesses, including financial institutions and individuals, are advised to adopt heightened compliance and due diligence measures to reduce risks of exposure to the junta and its enablers.
Denisse Rudich, Senior Policy Advisor at The Sentry, said: “Following the publication of the supplemental business advisory by the US Government, banks in the US and abroad, particularly in countries such as in Singapore, Thailand, and the UAE should monitor transactions to stop the flow of funds suspected of being linked to the military junta and carry out enhanced due diligence. They should engage with their correspondent banking networks, taking measures to prevent de-risking and ensure that humanitarian aid organizations, civilians, and essential sectors of the economy maintain unhindered access to the international financial system.”
Oliver Windridge, Director of Illicit Finance Policy at The Sentry, said: “We welcome the supplemental advisory on Burma by the US Government. It complements the continued targeted sanctions policy adopted by the US to constrain and contain the Myanmar junta by restricting access to funds that finance its brutal war on the people of Myanmar. Targeted sanctions will not solve the crisis in the country on their own, but as essential financial tools of pressure, they must be wielded by the US and its like-minded partners in a coordinated manner and against networks of enablers to enhance their effectiveness. In addition to sanctions, the advisory identifies high-risk business sectors that companies will want to stay clear of to prevent their potential complicity in the atrocities of the Myanmar junta. It nevertheless encourages legitimate and responsible trade and investment flows that benefit the Myanmar population.”
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar spokesperson, said: “It is positive that the US is continuing to advise companies in Myanmar to act responsibly and avoid key sectors that provide the junta with funds and resources that it needs to commit atrocities. However, this advice needs to be urgently backed up with more targeted sanctions by the US in coordination with its allies, including Australia, which remains exposed to Myanmar’s mining sector. There still are too many gaps in the sanctions that have been imposed and a large number of businesses and individuals that remain unsanctioned, despite evidence of complicity in the junta’s international crimes.”
The first US business advisory on Myanmar, published in January 2022, was issued “to inform individuals, businesses, financial institutions, and other persons — including investors, consultants, and research service providers — of the heightened risks associated with doing business in Burma, and particularly business activity that could benefit the Burmese military regime.”
For media inquiries or interview requests for The Sentry, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, [email protected]
For media inquiries for Justice For Myanmar, please contact: Yadanar Maung, Spokesperson, [email protected]
About Justice For Myanmar
Justice For Myanmar is a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation, and reporting to expose and dismantle the business networks that fuel brutality, corruption and mass-scale suffering.
About The Sentry
(Short descriptor for press use: “The Sentry, an investigative organization that tracks corruption”)
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts. For more information: www.TheSentry.org..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2024-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2024-01-29
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Title: The Myanmar military’s air superiority is slipping away amid sanctions and opposition attacks
Sub-title:
Like everything else in the nearly three years since the coup, the junta’s air superiority is fading.
Description:
"One of the most important setbacks for Myanmar’s military since an opposition alliance launched Operation 1027 last October has been the loss of three different aircraft: two jet trainers and an Mi-17 heavy-lift helicopter. An Mi-35 attack helicopter was also lost in 2023.
The Myanmar military should have total air superiority.
For the first two years of the conflict, the opposition National Unity Government’s (NUG) best air defense was doxing Air Force pilots – publishing their addresses, as part of an assassination campaign.
Gradually, the NUG’s People’s Defense Force militias began to erode the junta’s air superiority by effectively deploying armed drones.
Significantly, we’re now seeing Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs) begin to deploy air defenses, at a time when the junta has become even more dependent on air attacks. That increased tempo of operations requires more maintenance on overworked airframes.
These military junta losses matter for three reasons.
First, while not small by regional standards, the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) certainly does not have excess capacity. At the top end, it has some 31 SU-29s and four recently delivered SU-30s from Russia.
The recently delivered seven JF-17s multi-role fighters, jointly produced by China and Pakistan, are reportedly already grounded due to cracks in their airframes and other maintenance issues.
Airworthiness questions
On paper, Myanmar has approximately 40 other jet fighters, but these are old, Chinese-produced knock-off Russian jets from the 1990s. They are well beyond their service life.
The MAF is thought to have 20 Nanchang Q-5s, the Chinese version of the MiG-19, down from the 36 it imported from 1994-2001. It also has some 21 Chengdu J-7s, a Chinese produced MiG-21. That’s down from some 60 that it had purchased from 1990-1999.
It’s unclear how many of these fighters are still airworthy.
Myanmar’s military has relied on its 18 Russian-built Yak-130 trainers for much of its combat operations. Since the February 2021 coup, Myanmar has taken delivery of some six Guizhou JL-9 jet trainers, referred to as FTC-2000G, which have a spotty performance and safety record.
The MAF also flies an unknown number of Chinese K-8 trainers that can be used for ground support.
Second, we should also assume that given sanctions on the Singapore-based companies that have been the key importers of spare parts, the overall lack of foreign exchange available to the junta, and other supply chain issues, including those caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, that around 20% of the aircraft are probably not operational.
In December 2023, the sanctioned director of Sky Aviator and two others were caught trying to smuggle 508,925 Singapore dollars (US $382,380) in cash out of that city-state. Sky Aviator, which has an office in Singapore, had a large contract to purchase spare parts for the air force. Another sanctioned firm, Sky Royal Hero Company Limited, has the contract for the maintenance and spare parts for servicing the Russian jet fighters.
For nearly three years, the MAF has been flying at increased tempos without the scheduled maintenance they require.
Airstrikes ramping up
The military’s promised counter offensive has not materialized. Over 4,000 troops have surrendered since Operation 1027 began, and well-documented recruitment issues mean the military does not have a sufficient number of troops to launch ground offensives across the multiple battle zones, which has forced them to rely on long range artillery and air strikes.
An independent research firm documented 336 airstrikes in December 2023, alone, with nearly half against the Three Brotherhood Alliance, the group of ethnic armies behind Operation 1027..
The loss of one of their 12 already over-taxed heavy lift helicopters is another important setback for the military’s counter-offensive. One of their tactical advantages has been air mobility and resupply, especially given their loss of key roads.
Although the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) claims to have shot down the Guizhou JL-9/FTC-2000G on Jan. 17, there is little evidence to support this, Video footage that shows the plane falling from the sky, without smoke or any other sign of hostile fire, indicates likely engine failure.
That leads to the third implication: The MAF is losing aircraft to hostile fire.
While the military claims that it was a technical malfunction that brought down a K-8 trainer, Karenni forces claim to have shot it down.
The KIA claims to have shot down an Mi-17 transport helicopter, killing all six crew members on Jan. 3.
Both helicopters and the trainers, especially when they are being used for ground attacks, are vulnerable to small arms fire.
Eyes on Beijing
But these developments also beg the question: What weapons are being used to down the aircraft?
The only ethnic armed group that is known to have shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (known as MANPADs) is the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
Until very recently, the UWSA has sat out the conflict, neither supporting the junta nor joining the NUG. It recently declared its neutrality in the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027, though it did receive two townships from them.
Though the UWSA has quietly sold weapons to other ethnic armies and the NUG, it has, to date, refrained from selling MANPADs.
Has that changed? And if so, why now? It was long believed that they would not sell the weapons for fear of angering China. So did China approve the transfer, or are the groups now willing to incur Beijing’s wrath?
The KIA claims that they shot down the Mi-17 helicopter with a Chinese made FN-6 MANPAD. The transfer of these weapons to the KIA has never been acknowledged, and may indicate a substantial shift in Chinese policy.
Even if the Jan. 17 crash was caused by a mechanical failure, the KIA is smart to claim credit for downing the aircraft – if for no other reason than to sow fear amongst the pilots.
But what is clear, is that at the same time Myanmar’s military has become even more dependent on air strikes, it’s confronted by international sanctions and cash shortages that have hurt the servicing of their planes. At the same time, opposition forces are now fielding a limited number of surface-to-air missiles.
Like everything else in the nearly three years since the coup, the junta’s air superiority is slipping away..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of publication:
2024-01-20
Date of entry/update:
2024-01-20
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Sub-title:
UN Security Council Should Impose Sanctions on Military Junta
Description:
"(Bangkok) – Myanmar’s military junta in 2023 increasingly carried out unlawful airstrikes against villages with ethnic minorities and anti-coup residents, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2024. The security forces committed mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and arbitrary arrests and detention.
“The junta’s increased unlawful airstrikes exemplify the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar since the 2021 coup,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should tighten sanctions on the military, and urge the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.”
In the 740-page World Report 2024, its 34th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In her introductory essay, Executive Director Tirana Hassan says that 2023 was a consequential year not only for human rights suppression and wartime atrocities but also for selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy that carried profound costs for the rights of those not in on the deal. But she says there were also signs of hope, showing the possibility of a different path, and calls on governments to consistently uphold their human rights obligations.
In April, Myanmar’s military used a thermobaric weapon – a fuel-air explosive – in Sagaing Region that killed more than 160 civilians. In October, the military attacked a village hosting hundreds of displaced civilians in Kachin State, killing 28 civilians, including 11 children. And since the February 2021 coup, the military has used domestically produced cluster munitions, which are inherently indiscriminate, in populated areas.
The junta blocked desperately needed aid from reaching millions of people in conflict areas, in violation of international humanitarian law. More than two million people have been internally displaced, with many fleeing air and ground attacks multiple times. In October, tens of thousands of people fled clashes between the military and an alliance of ethnic armed groups and anti-junta People’s Defense Forces in northern Shan State.
In May, Cyclone Mocha, one of two strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, left a trail of destruction affecting nearly eight million people across Chin, Kachin, and Rakhine States, and Sagaing and Magway Regions. Junta authorities refused to authorize travel and visas for aid workers, release urgent supplies from customs and warehouses, or relax onerous and unnecessary restrictions on lifesaving assistance.
UN Security Council measures against Myanmar authorities have long been stymied by Russia and China, both of which have veto power. Other governments should find ways to expand their own national sanctions to press the junta to change course, Human Rights Watch said. UN member countries should comply with a UN General Assembly 2021 resolution, which urged governments “to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.”
Key governments such as the United States expanded sanctions, including on two Myanmar banks used by the junta to purchase weapons and military equipment. In August, the US issued a directive prohibiting financial transactions involving the military-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). But the European Union, US, Canada, and the United Kingdom should better coordinate and enforce their actions while seeking compliance by Singapore, Thailand and other neighbors of Myanmar.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) currently has an investigation into crimes related to the 2017 ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya, but it is limited in scope. An ICC referral remains critical to address the full range of atrocity crimes in Myanmar. Separately, the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar continued gathering evidence for future prosecutions.
The International Court of Justice is hearing the case on Myanmar’s alleged state responsibility under the Genocide Convention. On November 15, six countries joined the case initiated by Gambia in 2019..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2024-01-11
Date of entry/update:
2024-01-11
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"
Justice For Myanmar welcomes the latest sanctions on the Myanmar military junta and its associates, as it intensifies its war of terror against the people, and calls on governments to urgently step up and better coordinate sanctions.
The latest sanctions come as the junta continues to lose territory and control, almost three years after launching an illegal coup attempt.
On December 11, the EU sanctioned the entities Star Sapphire Group of Companies and Royal Shune Lei Company Limited, which are both suppliers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, aiding and abetting its international crimes.
Star Sapphire Group of Companies is a crony conglomerate closely associated with the family of Min Aung Hlaing, whose children’s assets were caught in a Thai drug raid against Star Sapphire Group’s founder, Tun Min Latt. Tun Min Latt is currently in custody in Thailand on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
Royal Shune Lei Company Limited is an arms broker for the Myanmar military that has been sanctioned for the first time. Justice For Myanmar previously highlighted its links to the sale of arms and dual use goods from Russia and Serbia. The company may have also brokered the sale of arms from North Korea to the Myanmar military in 2022, according to reports.
The EU also sanctioned members of the junta’s State Administration Council, Nyo Saw, Wunna Maung Lwin and Hmu Htan, as well as the commander of the military’s Eastern Command, Hla Moe.
Nyo Saw is a major player in the junta’s cartel, having been chairperson of Myanmar Economic Corporation and a member of the junta’s Foreign Exchange Supervision Committee.
On December 8, the UK sanctioned Colonel Chit Thu, whose legal name is San Myint, and his associates Saw Min Min Oo and She Zhijiang (also written as She Zhi Jiang). San Myint leads the Karen Border Guard Force, a militia under Myanmar military command in Karen State. Min Min Oo is a colonel in the same militia and plays a key role in the militia’s corrupt business dealings, which include illegal casinos and cyber slavery compounds. She Zhijiang, a Chinese fugitive who obtained Cambodian citizenship, is their business associate and led the Yatai project in Shwe Kokko with the Karen Border Guard Force up until his arrest in Thailand in 2022 after an extradition request by Chinese authorities. All three have been sanctioned for the first time.
Also on December 8, Canada for the second time sanctioned the war criminal, Min Aung Hlaing, who is responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and is leading the military’s coup attempt. He was designated under the country’s Magnitsky Law, the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act. Canada also sanctioned Min Aung Hlaing on February 18, 2021 under the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “These latest sanctions are welcome as a further step in blocking the Myanmar military junta’s sources of funds and arms, which it needs to continue its war of terror against the people.
“It is also welcome that the UK has sanctioned key individuals in the Karen Border Guard Force network, who, under Myanmar military command, are responsible for grave human rights violations and crimes that include human trafficking, the enslavement of victims in cyber scam compounds, the operation of illegal casinos and money laundering.
“The Myanmar military junta is at the apex of these criminal networks, and the threat they pose to the ASEAN region and beyond cannot be eradicated until the Myanmar military cartel is dismantled and there is federal democracy.
“However, the pace of sanctions has so far been too slow compared to the unprecedented crisis on the ground. Far more needs to be done urgently to cut the junta’s sources of arms and funds. We call on governments to step up and better coordinate for further sanctions and for justice and accountability.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-12-12
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-12
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"Greenway Mining Group Limited, a mining company based in Kunming, China and operating through British Overseas Territories, is expanding its business in Myanmar following the military’s illegal coup attempt, providing revenue to the junta as it widens its campaign of terror.
The revelations published by Justice For Myanmar based on the company’s disclosures to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange before its recent delisting, come as the UK lags behind its allies in sanctioning No. 1 Mining Enterprise (ME 1) and No. 1 Mining Enterprise (ME 2), which are under illegal control of the junta.
ME 1 and ME 2 have already been sanctioned by the US, EU and Canada.
The junta’s minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, Colonel Khin Maung Yi, has also been sanctioned by the US, EU and Canada, while he has yet to be designated in the UK.
Greenway Mining Group operates two mines in Shan State, Myanmar. Since the coup attempt, it has been seeking approval from the junta to expand one of its mines and has organised the shipment of minerals to China, in partnership with ME 1.
The company, which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and also operates in the British Virgin Islands, has earned millions of dollars in revenue during the past decade from its lead and silver mines in Myanmar, according to its financial statements.
Justice For Myanmar calls on UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron to immediately sanction all key junta entities and individuals in the mining sector, including ME 1, ME 2 and Khin Maung Yi.
Justice For Myanmar calls on Greenway to immediately end all business with the junta, in line with its human rights responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Greenway Mining is using British Overseas Territories for its business with the illegal Myanmar military junta, supporting ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity committed with total impunity.
“Greenway’s business with the junta, conducted via the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, has been enabled by the UK’s slow pace of sanctions on the mining sector, which is a key source of funds for the junta.
“As the junta continues to lose ground, it is increasingly relying on indiscriminate air strikes and is desperate for revenue to sustain its war of terror.
“The UK and its allies must urgently coordinate to block all of the junta’s sources of arms and revenue, including from the mining sector, and support the people of Myanmar’s struggle for federal democracy.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-11
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"The illegal Myanmar military junta is set to host the 26th Ministerial Conference of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) program, on December 15 in Naypyidaw, according to Justice For Myanmar sources.
In a welcome move, the Asian Development Bank, which acts as the GMS Secretariat, has told Justice For Myanmar that it will not attend the Ministerial Conference and will not provide any support. In response to an email, an ADB spokesperson told Justice For Myanmar, “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will not attend the 26th GMS Ministerial Conference. In addition, ADB will not provide any funding for the event, nor provide logistical or advisory support. ADB also will not finance the costs of any developing member countries’ attendees.”
Justice For Myanmar calls on GMS countries to cancel the conference and ban the junta from the GMS program. The ADB should reconsider its support for the GMS program while it continues to engage with the junta.
The conference is planned to take place as the junta continues to lose control of Myanmar, is rapidly losing territory and is waging a campaign of terror against the people, committing mass killings, carrying out indiscriminate air strikes and shelling, arbitrary arrests, torture and mass displacement that has surged to more than 2.5 million.
The conference host is Kan Zaw, the junta’s minister for investment and foreign economic relations, who is sanctioned by the US and EU. The EU noted that Kan Zaw “takes an active role in supporting the military’s efforts to attract foreign investment, thereby contributing to securing the financial needs of the military regime. Therefore, he is responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma as well as for engaging in actions that threaten the peace, security and stability of Myanmar.”
According to Justice For Myanmar sources, Kan Zaw has invited China’s finance minister, Lan Fo’an, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Sok Chenda Sophea, Lao’s planning and investment minister, Khamjane Vongphosy, Vietnam’s planning and investment minister, Nguyen Chi Dung, and Thailand’s deputy finance minister, Julapun Amornvivat to the conference.
The conference is being organised by a steering committee headed by the junta’s deputy minister for investment and foreign economic relations. The committee also includes a member of the military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) as the sole private sector representative, according to Justice For Myanmar sources. MEC is sanctioned by the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia.
The junta-controlled Myanmar Police Force is providing security for the conference, overseen by the deputy police chief who is also a member of the steering committee. The junta’s police force is directly responsible for killings, torture and arbitrary arrest, which amount to crimes against humanity. The junta is preparing to maximise propaganda from the conference, having formed a committee to manage the release of information to control journalists.
The conference is being held at the Grand Amara Hotel, which is part of the junta-linked crony conglomerate International Group of Entrepreneur (IGE) owned by Ne Aung, the brother of the junta’s navy chief. The junta is covering the accommodation of delegates, their flights between Yangon and Naypyidaw and hosting a gala lunch.
The upcoming conference comes after Min Aung Hlaing participated in the 7th GMS Leaders’ Summit hosted by Cambodia in 2021. The ADB told Justice For Myanmar that they had provided Cambodia with advisory support to prepare documentation for the summit, which was held virtually.
The Leaders’ Summit, which is the program’s highest body, was featured prominently in junta propaganda. In a speech at the summit, Min Aung Hlaing defended his illegal coup attempt and falsely stated that the 2020 election was rigged and that the coup attempt was constitutional.
At the 2021 Leader’s Summit, Min Aung Hlaing illegitimately endorsed the GMS Strategic Framework 2030, which aims to promote investment and tourism that would help generate revenue for the junta, which it needs to finance its terror campaign.
In 2022, Laos hosted the 25th GMS Ministerial Conference, in which the junta was also wrongly allowed to participate. In the conference, the junta illegitimately endorsed the GMS Regional Investment Framework for 2023-2025, in which the junta has proposed US$208.3 million in projects in sectors that include energy, information and communications technology, tourism and agriculture, mostly to be funded by unspecified “development partners”.
The GMS program was established in 1992 under Myanmar’s previous dictatorship, and has focussed on promoting trade and the development of economic corridors and infrastructure, including in ethnic areas of Myanmar.
As part of the Myanmar junta’s chairing of the GMS, the junta linked Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) is leading the GMS Business Council, a grouping of chambers of commerce from GMS countries. The GMS Business Council is currently chaired by Zaw Min Win, a former UMFCCI president and the chair of the Myanmar Industries Alliance, which invests in the mobile operator Mytel with the military conglomerate MEC.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “It is unfathomable that the GMS program and its members are not only inviting the illegal junta to participate but are even appointing it as host of a ministerial conference.
“The junta is a terrorist organisation that is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity. The military's coup attempt is failing and the GMS program and its members are making a serious moral and strategic error in legitimising it and attempting to facilitate investment that will help it generate revenue and further fuel atrocities.
“GMS members should immediately cancel the planned conference or, failing that, refuse to attend. The junta must be barred from the GMS program, which should instead recognise and support the National Unity Government, which is the legitimate government of Myanmar.
“We welcome the decision of the ADB to withdraw support for the Ministerial Conference and to refuse to attend. The ADB should now reconsider its institutional support for the GMS program as long as its members continue to legitimise the illegal junta.
“The involvement of UMFCCI and the junta-linked crony Zaw Min Win in the GMS Business Council is alarming and is a further sign that the junta and its cronies are using the program to promote investment that can strengthen the junta and worsen the crisis in Myanmar caused by the military’s illegal coup attempt.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-12-05
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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"Myanmar Campaign Network (MCN), Justice For Myanmar (JFM), the Australian Coalition for Democracy in Burma (ACDB), and Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR) commend the decision by the Australian Government to deny visas to the Myanmar football club Shan United. The decision comes after a strong push from the organisations, which cited grave concerns over the club’s associations with individuals and entities connected to the Myanmar military and human rights violations.
This action prompted Australia to bar Shan United's entry for their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match against Sydney team the Macarthur Bulls, initially slated for November 30 in Australia, leading to the match's relocation to a venue in Bangkok.
MCN, JFM, ACDB, and GMSR urged Australian ministers to deny visas to Shan United players and officials, raising concerns about the club's owner, Wa Minn Group of Companies, and its sponsor, Kanbawza Group of Companies (KBZ Group).
Myanmar Investment Commission data released by Distributed Denial of Secrets shows Wa Minn Group of Companies and its owner, Kun Naung Myint Wai, hold permits for two property development projects in partnership with the Myanmar military: one with Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), a military conglomerate sanctioned by Australia, and one with the Office of the Quartermaster General of the Myanmar Army, which has been sanctioned by the US, UK, EU, and Canada.
KBZ Group is a crony conglomerate that donated a total of US$4.7 million to the Myanmar military and the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State (UEHRD) during the Rohingya genocide, according to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The Fact-Finding Mission recommended a criminal investigation against officials of KBZ Group as a result of the donations, stating that they made ‘a substantial and direct contribution to the commission of the crime against humanity of “other inhumane acts”’.
MCN and JFM have pressed for sanctions against these companies and related individuals.
Myanmar Campaign Network Campaign Manager Tasneem Roc, said, “Australia's denial of visas sends a powerful message that those implicated in human rights violations will not be granted a platform or support. Further sanctions action is needed to show support for the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar.”
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said, “Australia’s denial of visas to Shan United is welcome but more needs to be done. Australia should urgently impose more targeted sanctions against the illegal junta’s sources of funds, arms, equipment and jet fuel, and catch up with the sanctions already imposed by its allies.”
Australian Coalition for Democracy in Burma spokesperson Peter Murphy said, “While we welcome Australia’s decision to ban visas for Shan United players and officials, Football Australia and ultimately FIFA bear a crucial responsibility to uphold human rights within international football. States, entities or individuals found guilty of human rights abuses should be banned.”
Global Myanmar Spring Revolution Spokesperson Mon Zin said, “This visa ban marks progress towards justice, but it stirs mixed emotions for us, the youth. We long for a Myanmar free from the junta's oppression, with opportunities for all. We imagined celebrating our soccer stars in Sydney, a moment of pride. However until the world opposes the junta's cruelty, our hopes remain unfulfilled. Let this ban resound as a call for justice, fuelling our unwavering struggle for a liberated Myanmar!”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-12-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-01
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Individual Documents
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"H.E. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister
H.E. Yoko Kamikawa, Minister for Foreign Affairs
H.E. Shunichi Suzuki, Minister of Finance
H.E. Tetsuo Saito, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Statement calling on the Japanese government to stop ODA and publicly-funded projects benefiting the Myanmar military
ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation
Friends of the Earth Japan
Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)
Mekong Watch
Progressive Voice
More than two years and ten months have passed since the failed coup by the Myanmar military. The military continues to commit serious human rights abuses amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. At least 4,192 people including pro-democracy activists and civilians have been confirmed killed by the military as of November 21, 2023. Among those protesting the attempted seizure of power by force by the military, a total of 25,425 people have been arrested. Across Myanmar, 2 million people are estimated to be internally displaced as of November 10, including 1.7 million currently displaced by clashes and insecurity since the coup.
By 2020, the Japanese government provided JPY 356.518 billion in total in grant aid as well as JPY 109.94 billion in total in technical assistance to Myanmar, and promised JPY 1,378.47 billion in loan aid (figure based on loan agreements). After the failed coup, then Foreign Minister Motegi made the following statement regarding these Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Myanmar on May 21, 2021: “If the situation continues in this way, it is possible that we will be compelled to review ODA and that companies may become unable to provide investment even if they want to.” However, since then, despite the worsening human rights crisis in Myanmar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have simply repeated that it would “comprehensively consider what measures may be effective while viewing the situation of the efforts made by Japan and the international community”. No contract has been signed on new ODA, but no official announcement has been made as to whether any review or assessment has been conducted regarding the existing ODA.
A large part of ODA to Myanmar is loan aid (yen loans) for development of a special economic zone and surrounding infrastructure, construction of roads, and repairing railroads. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated in the Diet that 34 loan aid projects totaling JPY 739.6 billion based on figures in loan agreements are being implemented currently, making it clear that these projects have continued even after the failed coup.
Besides ODA, the Japanese government provides public funds for private projects in Myanmar. Redevelopment of the Defense Services Museum Project (commonly known as the “Y Complex Project”) involves building and operating a large-scale real estate complex at the army-owned site of the former military museum in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN), a government-funded infrastructure investment corporation under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) which is Japan’s public export credit agency, invests or lends to the Y Complex Project. Tokyo Tatemono, Fujita Corporation (a subsidiary of Daiwa House Industry), and JOIN set up a Joint Special Purpose Company (J-SPC) in Singapore. JBIC along with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank co-financed a loan to this J-SPC, and the J-SPC in turn is co-investing in Y Complex Company Ltd., a Myanmar corporation set up jointly by the J-SPC and Yangon Technical and Trading Company Limited (YTT), a Myanmar crony company. The land lease agreement is between YTT and "Colonel Aung Min Thein (Officer No. Army 17642), Vice Quarter Master General, Office of the Quarter Master General, Commander-in-Chief (Army).” Land lease payments are to be made to "Defence Account no. MD 010424,” an account likely to be under control of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
The US, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on the Office of the Quartermaster General on December 10, 2021. Further, on June 21, 2023, the US designated Myanmar's Ministry of Defence as a “Specially Designated National” subject to financial sanctions, noting that the Ministry was “responsible for the command and control of the armed forces, which has conducted decades of repressive military rule that was violently resumed following the coup in 2021.”
Following are some of the issues that that the continuation of the provision of public funds and ODA could entail:
First, by continuing ODA which requires bilateral agreements even though one of the parties to those agreements has ceased to exist due to the coup in February 2021, and by providing public funds to the Y Complex Project, a venture that allows funds to flow to the Office of the Quartermaster General, it appears that the Japanese government is giving implicit support to the military junta. We share the concern of Myanmar citizens regarding this point.
Second, ODA projects and projects receiving public funds in fact benefit the Myanmar military. It has been made clear by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar that in Myanmar, revenues from business operations conducted by companies owned or controlled by the military are a source of funds for the military, supporting their atrocities. The UK government has pointed out that the Office of the Quartermaster General which is involved in the Y Complex Project "plays a crucial role in procuring equipment for the Myanmar Armed Forces, including ammunition, bombs and jet fuel.” It has been revealed that the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), one of the military enterprises that the Fact-Finding Mission recommended to the international community not to "enter into or remain in a business relationship” with, is involved in the construction of Bago Bridge, a yen loan project. It has been pointed out that Yokogawa Bridge Corporation made payments to MEC from July to November 2022. Further, in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Development Project, the Japanese government along with major trade companies and banks is investing in the Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Ltd. (MJTD) which operates the industrial area using “Private Sector Investment Finance,” a type of ODA. Myanmar established the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee and holds 10% of MJTD. Soon after the coup, the military detained the chairperson of the Management Committee and appointed a new chairperson. Dividend payments are to be made if MJTD makes a profit, but under these circumstances, the possibility cannot be denied that such dividend payments will benefit the military.
Third, in the type of ODA called “Two-Step Loans” under which ODA funds lent by the Japanese government are held and managed by financial institutions in Myanmar, there is concern that the funds may come to be managed by the military through its control over the financial institutions. Projects in question include the Housing Finance Development Project, Project for the Development of Finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and the Agriculture and Rural Development Two Step Loan Project.
Fourth, funds provided through yen loans are money lent at interest that Myanmar needs to repay, which will increase the debt owed by the people of Myanmar. Japan had already lent a cumulative total of USD 2761.8 million to Myanmar by 2020,but Myanmar will owe an additional JPY 739.6 billion (USD 4.93 billion as of November 10, 2023). This means that the people of Myanmar who are suffering from serious human rights abuses and atrocities by the Myanmar military will be made to bear the burden of repaying ODA for the next decades that is or may well be a source of funds for the military.
As we expressed in our statement in December 2022, we believe that the Japanese government should respect the National Unity Government (NUG), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and civil society organizations in Myanmar and effectively support the will of the people of Myanmar. We express deep concern that Japan may be complicit in the atrocity crimes by the military by providing ODA and public funds to the benefit of the military. We strongly demand that the Japanese government suspend all yen loan projects currently being implemented. Regarding the Y Complex Project, we strongly demand that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism immediately withdraw the investment made by JOIN, and that the Ministry of Finance immediately cancel the loan made by JBIC.
Statement has been endorsed by the following organizations:
1 Action Committee for Democracy Development (Coalition of 14 Grassroots Networks)
2 Active Youths Kalaymyo
3 Africa Japan Forum
4 Ah Nah Podcast - Conversations with Myanmar
5 All Arakan Students' & Youths' Congress – AASYC
6 All Burma Indigenous People Alliance (ABIPA)
7 Alternative People's Linkage in Asia
8 ALTSEAN-Burma
9 ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
10 Asian Community Center 21
11 Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
12 Asian Health Institute, AHI
13 Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
14 Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
15 Association Suisse-Birmanie (ASB)
16 Associazione per l'Amicizia Italia Birmania "Giuseppe Malpeli"
17 Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
18 Burma Action Ireland
19 Burma Campaign UK
20 Burma Human Rights Network
21 Burmese Relief Center Japan
22 Burmese Women’s Union
23 CRPH & NUG Supporters Ireland
24 CRPH Funding Ireland
25 CRPH, NUG Support Team Germany-Deutschland
26 Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization
27 Earth Tree
28 Educational Initiatives Prague
29 Equality Myanmar
30 Federation of Workers’ Union of the Burmese Citizen in Japan (FWUBC)
31 Freedom and Labor Action Group (FLAG)
32 Fukuoka NGO forum on ADB
33 Future Light Center
34 Future Thanlwin
35 General Incorporation Association WORKSPACE ASIA
36 Generation Wave
37 Grass-root People
38 HANDS（Health and Development Service)
39 Human Rights Educators Network
40 Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
41 Human Rights Now
42 Info Birmanie
43 Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)
44 International Association, Myanmar-Switzerland (IAMS)
45 International Karen Organisation
46 Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines (JCBL)
47 Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace
48 Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
49 Japan Overseas Christian Medical Cooperative Service
50 Japan Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN)
51 Justice For Myanmar
52 Karen Human Rights Group
53 Karen Peace Support Network
54 Karen Swedish Community (KSC)
55 Karenni Human Rights Group
56 Karenni National Women's Organization
57 Keng Tung Youth
58 Mandalay Regional Youth Association Revolution Core Group
59 Metta Campaign
60 Myanmar Campaign Network
61 Myanmar Diaspora Group Finland
62 Myanmar International Assistance Organization
63 Myanmar News Now
64 Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State)
65 Myanmar Refugee Policy Group
66 Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma (ND-Burma)
67 Nway Oo Guru Lay Myar
68 Padauk Finland-Myanmar Association
69 Pakokku Youth Development Council
70 Peace Boat
71 Peace Village United
72 Political Prisoners Network
73 Progressive Voice
74 Save and Care Organization for Women at Border Areas
75 Services for the Health in Asian and African Regions
76 Shan MATA
77 Southern Youth Development Organization
78 Ta'ang Legal Aid
79 Ta’ang Women’s Organization
80 Tanintharyi MATA
81 The Ladies
82 U.S. Campaign for Burma
83 Women's Democratic Club, Femin
84 Yokohama NGO Network
and one other organization..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-12-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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99.27 KB 426.78 KB 196.18 KB
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"29 November 2023: The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) congratulates the Australian Government for its decision to deny entry visas to the players and officials of Shan United football team, owned by Kun Naung Myint Wai – a crony with deep ties to the illegal Myanmar military junta.
Kun Naung Myint Wai is also the chairman of Wa Minn Corporation, which has business links with the Myanmar military’s “ministry of defence.” Kun Naung Myint Wai has alleged connections with Myanmar military-controlled conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which generates vast revenues for the Myanmar military that it uses to fund grave human rights violations against civilians. In February, Australia imposed financial sanctions on MEC.
The decision to bar entry to Shan United football club, which came ahead of its scheduled football match against Sydney-based Macarthur FC in Australia, is a modest but welcome step by the Australian Government to hold accountable those who benefit from their association with Myanmar’s criminal military.
SAC-M urges the Australian Government to build on this positive step by taking more meaningful action to hold the Myanmar military accountable. Australia must now follow like-minded democracies, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, by imposing further targeted financial sanctions on the Myanmar military, its generals, affiliated entities and cronies..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-11-29
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Human Rights and international relations
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"REDRESS, Justice For Myanmar and the Australian Centre for International Justice have submitted a dossier of evidence to the Governor of the British Virgin Islands and the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, requesting that they open investigations into the formerly British Virgin Islands-incorporated entity Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar) Limited alleged violations of UK sanctions.
The dossier contains research and evidence from Justice For Myanmar into Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar) Limited’s business, including leaked financial statements that show transactions with the military conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC).
The transactions, which consist of the sale of zinc to MEC and the purchase of coal from MEC, total 1,971,236,483 Myanmar kyat (more than £770,000 or AU$1.33m) between October 2021 and August 2022, and follow the UK’s sanctioning of MEC on April 1, 2021, under the UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020, which are in force in the British Virgin Islands.
The dossier urges that, should penalties be imposed through enforcement action, the funds are re-directed to victims as reparations for the abuses they suffered from the Myanmar military. Such financial compensation could serve to provide interim relief to victims, allowing them to rebuild their lives and gain access to healthcare and other social services.
Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar) Limited’s main business is zinc mining and processing in Myanmar’s Shan State. It began operating in Myanmar in 1999, under the previous military junta, and has a production sharing contract with Mining Enterprise No. 1 (ME 1), a state-owned enterprise that is illegally under junta control.
ME 1 has not been sanctioned by the UK or Australia, despite calls in Australia and the UK for sanctions.
The company’s Myanmar business was owned by its British Virgin Islands’ parent company until it was struck off its Register of Companies in November 2022. Due to restrictions on accessing information on this and Myanmar corporate registries, it has not been possible to confirm the identity of the current directors and shareholders of Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar). The company has had an Australian director, Australian shareholders and used an Australian address for its business.
Rupert Skilbeck, Director of REDRESS, said: "The UK’s enforcement agencies can impose significant financial penalties for violations of UK sanctions, which could be used to provide reparations to victims of the crimes sanctions seek to prevent. Yet, to date, the UK has been extremely slow at enforcing sanctions and any fines imposed have been directed to the Treasury for other uses.
“It is crucial that the UK government rigorously enforces its sanctions, both in the UK and in its overseas territories, to ensure they effectively deter serious human rights violations, and are used to make funds available to victims."
Yadanar Maung, Justice for Myanmar’s spokesperson, said: “Cornerstone Resources’ substantial business with Myanmar Economic Corporation, in apparent breach of UK sanctions, supports a corrupt conglomerate that enriches a murderous military and its war criminal leadership. Cornerstone’s ongoing business in Myanmar have been enabled by Australia’s failure to sanction mining enterprises that are illegally controlled by the junta, and which help finance its ongoing atrocities against the people. Australia needs to stop making excuses and sanction the junta’s sources of funds and arms, including state-owned enterprises.
“The UK should urgently sanction junta-controlled mining enterprises to prevent companies registered in the UK and its overseas territories from financing the junta’s international crimes.”
Melissa Chen, Senior Lawyer, Australian Centre for International Justice, said: "The imposition of sanctions against individuals and entities who support Myanmar’s illegal military junta is only one step towards accountability.
“To have real impact, these sanctions must be effectively enforced in order to cut off the junta’s financing and deter those responsible for the devastating human rights violations and atrocity crimes that continue to be perpetrated in Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-11-20
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-20
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"Justice For Myanmar welcomes the latest round of targeted sanctions imposed against the illegal Myanmar military junta, its cronies and arms brokers, coordinated between Canada, the UK and USA.
The sanctions, announced on October 31, 2023, were significant in targeting the junta’s sources of funds, arms, equipment, and jet fuel, but more sanctions and better coordination are needed to disrupt the junta’s ability to continue its campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.
Priorities include full sanctions on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), sanctions on junta-controlled mining enterprises, a ban on the sale of jet fuel to Myanmar, action against banks that the junta uses to channel funds and purchase arms, and coordinated sanctions against whole networks of junta cronies and arms dealers. Details of sanctions targets are on the Justice For Myanmar website.
We remain dismayed at the lack of action by Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea to impose sanctions in response to the military’s coup attempt and ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and urge these countries to act now. Many of the latest sanctions targets maintain business links to Singapore. We call on the Singaporean government to do more to block the junta’s access to funds, arms, equipment and jet fuel.
Since the military’s illegal coup attempt, more than 4,100 people have been killed by the junta and over 25,000 arrested. In the face of mass, nationwide resistance to its coup attempt by the people of Myanmar, the junta has intensified indiscriminate aerial attacks, shelling, mass arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, the destruction of whole communities and forced displacement.
International action needs to be ramped up urgently to stop the junta’s atrocities and support the Myanmar people’s struggle for federal democracy.
Sanctions imposed this week that target the junta’s sources of funds, arms, equipment and jet fuel, along with previous designations that remain in force, include:
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE): A state-owned enterprise illegally controlled by the junta and targeted by the USA for the first time with a directive against the direct and indirect provision of financial services, which will go into force on December 15. This follows a sustained campaign by Myanmar people, civil society and allies.
The financial services directive is an important step to disrupt the flow of funds to the junta but falls short of full sanctions that would freeze MOGE’s assets and block all trade with the junta-controlled state-owned enterprise.
MOGE was previously sanctioned by the EU.
Mining Enterprise No. 1 (ME1) and Mining Enterprise No. 2 (ME2): State-owned enterprises illegally controlled by the junta and sanctioned by Canada. ME1 and ME2 monopolise the mining sector, receive a share of revenue from private mining companies, and funnel large amounts of revenue to the junta.
ME1 and ME2 were previously sanctioned by the USA and EU.
International Group of Entrepreneur Services Company Limited (IGE): A crony company sanctioned by the UK for its business with the Myanmar military, which is a subsidiary of International Group of Entrepreneur Company Limited. IGE Group is a crony conglomerate led by Ne Aung, the son of former junta minister Aung Thaung and brother of junta navy chief Moe Aung. IGE has deep business links with the military, including through the Lotte Hotel, developed on land leased from the Office of the Quartermaster General of the Myanmar Army, as reported by Justice For Myanmar.
IGE Group has at least three companies that remain registered in Singapore: IGE Pte Ltd, UNOG Pte Ltd and IPL Pte Ltd.
International Group of Entrepreneur Company Limited was previously sanctioned by the EU.
Shwe Byain Phyu Group and Thein Win Zaw: Shwe Byain Phyu Group is a crony conglomerate founded by Thein Win Zaw, who is the group’s chairperson. Both were sanctioned by Canada. Shwe Byain Phyu bought Telenor Myanmar, renamed ATOM Myanmar, providing the junta with enhanced surveillance capabilities and access to personal data. Justice For Myanmar has exposed the business interests of Shwe Byain Phyu Group and Thein Win Zaw.
Shwe Byain Phyu has a company in Singapore, Investcom Pte Ltd, which remains registered.
Shwe Byain Phyu Group and Thein Win Zaw have been sanctioned for the first time.
Star Sapphire Group of Companies, Star Sapphire Trading Company Limited, Tun Min Latt and Win Min Soe: All sanctioned by Canada, the group has multiple businesses that generate funds for the Myanmar military, including a casino, a hotel and mining. Star Sapphire Group of Companies and its subsidiary, Star Sapphire Trading, has been a key supplier of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military from Israel and China in particular. The group is owned by Tun Min Latt and Win Min Soe, who are a married couple and are close associates of junta head Min Aung Hlaing and his children. Tun Min Latt is in custody in Thailand on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Star Sapphire Group’s business with the Myanmar military and links with Min Aung Hlaing’s family have been exposed by Justice For Myanmar.
Star Sapphire group has a company in Singapore, Star Sapphire Group Pte Ltd, which remains registered.
Star Sapphire Group of Companies and Tun Min Latt were previously sanctioned by the UK and USA. The USA also previously sanctioned Star Sapphire Trading Company Limited and Win Min Soe.
Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Company Limited and Khin Phyu Win: Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics (formerly Cargo Link Pongrawe Logistics Company Limited), sanctioned by Canada, is part of the Shoon group of companies (formerly Asia Sun). Shoon group is the junta’s main partner in the import, storage and distribution of jet fuel. The group is led by Khin Phyu Win, also sanctioned by Canada. Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics is the junta’s main transporter of jet fuel to military bases and airports across Myanmar. The role of Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics and Khin Phyu Win in supply jet fuel to the Myanmar military has been exposed by Amnesty International and Justice For Myanmar.
Shoon group has three companies that remain registered in Singapore: Shoon Energy Pte Ltd, P.E.I. Energy Pte Ltd and PEIA Pte Ltd.
Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics was previously sanctioned by the US, and its parent company, Cargo Link Company Limited, was previously sanctioned by the UK. Khin Phyu Win was previously sanctioned by the USA and UK.
Canada continues to lead in measures to stop the junta’s access to jet fuel, which it needs to continue to carry out indiscriminate airstrikes. On October 31, Canada expanded its ban on the sale of jet fuel to include a prohibition on shipping insurance for the transport of jet fuel to Myanmar.
Sky Aviator Company Limited, Heli Eagle Company Limited, Sky Royal Hero Limited, Kyaw Min Oo and Myo Min Oo: Major suppliers of aviation equipment to the Myanmar military and all sanctioned by Canada, Sky Aviator is owned by Kyaw Min Oo and the linked company, Heli Eagle, is owned by Myo Min Oo, who is his brother, according to Justice For Myanmar sources. Kyaw Min Oo was also sanctioned by the UK. Since the illegal coup attempt, Sky Aviator has procured equipment from Russia and Ukraine, including YAK-130 support equipment, engines and parts. The Yak-130 is increasingly deployed by the military within populated areas, including in the catastrophic indiscriminate bombing of Pazigyi village, Kantabulu township, Sagaing Region, killing at least 168 people, including children, in the deadliest airstrike since the military’s attempted coup. Sky Aviator’s business with the Myanmar military has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.
Heli Eagle and Sky Royal Hero have supplied equipment to the Myanmar military following the coup attempt, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. Sky Aviator and Heli Eagle are both registered suppliers of the Myanmar military’s Directorate of Procurement and share phone numbers and an email address. According to the UN Special Rapporteur, Sky Royal Hero has a trading relationship with Sky Aviator.
Sky Aviator was previously sanctioned by the EU, UK and USA. Kyaw Min Oo was previously sanctioned by the USA and EU. Heli Eagle, Sky Royal Hero and Myo Min Oo have been sanctioned for the first time.
Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited and Naing Htut Aung: Myanmar New Era Trading is a significant supplier of aircraft parts for the Myanmar military from Russia that was sanctioned by Canada. Import data confirms the company’s procurement for the military of parts for Mi-17 (Mi-8M) helicopters from Russia between 2017 and 2020. The Mi- 17 helicopter is frequently used by the junta in its commission of war crimes, including in the 16 September 2022 attack on Let Yet Kone village when the junta indiscriminately bombed a school and a monastery. Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited is part of the network of International Gateways Group, a major arms broker led by Naing Htut Aung, who was also sanctioned by Canada. Myanmar New Era Trading and the International Gateways Group network has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar and the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.
There are at least two companies in Naing Htut Aung’s network that remain registered in Singapore: Global Polytech Resources Pte Ltd and Xinshidai Company Pte. Ltd.
Myanmar New Era Trading was previously sanctioned by the UK. Naing Htut Aung was previously sanctioned by the USA and EU.
Miya Win International: A private arms broker and sanctioned by Canada, Miya Win International has procured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and parts from Austria’s Schiebel Corporation, including after the military’s coup attempt. In addition, Miya Win International has played a key role in the military’s deal with the Austrian company Diamond Aircraft Industries, a Chinese-owned company with a facility in Canada, to set up local assembly and production of DART-450 aerial reconnaissance aircraft in Myanmar. Evidence of Miya Win International’s business with Schiebel Corporation and Diamond Aircraft Industries has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar.
Miya Win International was previously sanctioned by the UK.
Creative Exploration Limited: An arms broker sanctioned by Canada that has imported fuses from India to the Myanmar military, including since the attempted coup, which has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar. Creative Exploration was formerly known as My Space or mySpace. The company has also imported digital forensics technology from the USA.
Creative Exploration Limited has been sanctioned for the first time.
Life and Challenge Company Limited: A supplier of technology, equipment and training to the Myanmar military and its police that was sanctioned by Canada. In 2018, Life and Challenge was awarded a contract to design and deliver a radar capability development program for the Myanmar military. Life and Challenge’s business with the military has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar.
Life and Challenge has a company in Singapore, LANC Pte Ltd, which remains registered.
Life and Challenge has been sanctioned for the first time.
Synpex Shwe Company Limited: An arms broker sanctioned by Canada, the company has procured material from Russia for the Myanmar Air Force following the military’s coup attempt, and is also a supplier of raw materials for the military’s domestic arms manufacturing industry. Synpex Shwe’s involvement in the supply of arms to the Myanmar military has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar and the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.
Synpex Shwe has a company in Singapore, Synergy Tripexin Pte Lte, which remains registered.
Synpex Shwe was previously sanctioned by the UK.
Suntac Group of Companies, Suntac Technologies Company Limited, Suntac International Trading Company Limited and Sit Taing Aung: Suntac Group of Companies was sanctioned by Canada, while Suntac Technologies Company Limited and Suntac International Trading Company Limited were sanctioned by the USA for supplying equipment to the Myanmar military. Suntac Group of Companies is owned by Sit Taing Aung, who was also sanctioned by the UK. Sit Taing Aung is Mexico’s Honorary Consul to Myanmar. Sit Taing Aung and Suntac’s involvement in the procurement of aircraft parts has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar and the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, and Suntac’s involvement in the military’s arms manufacturing industry has been exposed by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar.
Sit Taing Aung was previously sanctioned by the USA, Canada and EU.
Mottama Holdings Limited and Min Dhama Steel Structures Limited: Mottama Holdings is a crony conglomerate and, together with its subsidiary, Min Dhama Steel Structures, was sanctioned by Canada. The companies supply the Myanmar military’s domestic arms industry with raw materials and machinery, as exposed by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar and the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. Evidence received by Justice For Myanmar reveals the involvement of Min Dhama Steel Structures in importing steel for the construction of the so-called Honorary Hall of the Residence of the State Administration Council.
Mottama Holdings and Min Dhama Steel Structures have been sanctioned for the first time.
Bhone Min Myat Company Limited and Ever Meter Company Limited: The two companies sanctioned by Canada are used by the military conglomerate Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) to evade international sanctions, according to reporting by Myanmar Now. Bhone Min Myat was established after the military’s coup attempt, reportedly as a front for the MEHL subsidiary, Myawaddy Trading, and has been used to import fuel and palm oil. Ever Meter Company Limited, part of Same Sky Group of Companies, is an MEHL partner that it has used as a front for payments, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. Ever Meter has been a long-time supplier of electricity meters for MEHL.
Bhone Min Myat and Ever Meter have been sanctioned for the first time.
Pye Phyo Tay Za and Htoo Htet Tay Za: The two sons of Tay Za were sanctioned by the UK for their involvement in Htoo Group of Companies, which has multiple businesses with the Myanmar military and its conglomerates. Htoo Htet Tay Za was also sanctioned by Canada, which had previously sanctioned Pye Phyo Tay Za. Htoo Group’s business with the Myanmar military and the role of Pye Phyo Tay Za and Htoo Htet Tay Za have been detailed by Justice For Myanmar.
The two brothers were also previously sanctioned by the USA.
Myo Thitsar: A director of the Myanmar military arms broker, Dynasty International Company Limited, who has been sanctioned by the UK. Dynasty International is a major arms broker of the Myanmar military from Belarus in particular. Among other dirty deals, the company has imported spare parts for Mi-17 helicopters. The company is led by Aung Moe Myint, who is the Honorary Consul of Belarus to Myanmar. Dynasty International’s business with the Myanmar military has been exposed by Justice For Myanmar.
Dynasty International has a company in Singapore, Dynasty Excellency Pte Ltd, which remains registered.
Myo Thitsar was previously sanctioned by the USA and Canada..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-11-03
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title:
Stronger Enforcement Needed to Stem Funding of Abusive Military
Description:
"The United States government has imposed a ban on financial transactions involving the Myanmar state-owned oil company, the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), in a long overdue move aimed at stanching the junta’s atrocities.
MOGE’s natural gas projects generate over US$1 billion annually for the Myanmar junta, its single largest source of foreign revenue. Since the February 2021 coup, that flow of funding has underwritten crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out by the junta across the country.
Unlike other junta-controlled entities that the US has sanctioned since the coup, MOGE wasn’t added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which blocks trade, assets, and access to the US banking system. Instead, the US Treasury Department issued a directive prohibiting persons and companies under the jurisdiction of the US from directly or indirectly providing financial services to MOGE, including deposits, transfers, loans, insurance, investments, foreign exchange, and other services. The ban goes into effect on December 15.
“Through the issuance of a financial services directive against MOGE, the United States seeks to disrupt the regime’s access to the US financial system and curtail its ability to perpetrate atrocities,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an October 31 statement.
This sanctions action belatedly follows the European Union’s sanctioning of MOGE in February 2022, which led the Bank of China to advise operators of the Shwe gas field in the Bay of Bengal that it would no longer handle payments in euros to MOGE, reportedly moving the funds to escrow accounts.
Chevron, MOGE’s only US partner, announced in February it was selling its 41.1 percent stake in the country’s Yadana gas project to the Canadian firm MTI Energy.
Lax enforcement of the existing sanctions regime has sustained the junta’s flow of weapons and funds, enabling its escalating brutality against Myanmar’s civilian population. Airstrikes in some regions have increased more than 300 percent in the past year.
The US also announced additional sanctions on five individuals and three entities involved in the junta’s abuses, in coordination with Canada and the United Kingdom, a positive step. Broad coordination and rigorous enforcement of sanctions are crucial for raising economic costs that the junta can’t ignore..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-01
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"In a coordinated action yesterday, the United States, UK, and Canada each announced an array of new Myanmar sanctions. The sanctions include restrictions by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on transactions with the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), as well as designations on entities and individuals connected to Myanmar’s military junta.
Oliver Windridge, Director of Illicit Finance Policy at The Sentry, said: “We welcome the adoption by the US Treasury Department of additional sanctions that restrict the Myanmar military's access to funds and equipment it uses to conduct a brutal war against its people. The MOGE Financial Services Directive is especially significant as it will hinder substantial flows of foreign exchange earnings from reaching the military's coffers. Coordinated sanctions on networks of arms dealers that enable the military's war effort are also a positive development. We call on the US to continue its efforts in coordination with like-minded partners to use financial tools of pressure to weaken the military and ensure that the Myanmar people prevail."
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar spokesperson, said: "The US Financial Services directive against MOGE is a welcome step to disrupt the single biggest source of foreign revenue to the junta. This comes after a sustained campaign from Myanmar people and allies for action against MOGE. The US should continue to target the junta’s sources of funds through full sanctions on MOGE that would freeze its assets and block all trade with it, including from the international oilfield service companies that are supporting the maintenance and expansion of gas fields which finance atrocities. Moreover, it is positive to see increased coordination between Canada, the UK and US targeting the junta, its cronies and arms brokers. As the junta continues to wage a campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar, it is crucial that governments ratchet up sanctions to block the junta’s access to funds, arms, and jet fuel.”
For media inquiries or interview requests for The Sentry, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, [email protected]
For media inquiries for Justice For Myanmar, please contact: Yadanar Maung, Spokesperson, [email protected]
About Justice For Myanmar
Justice For Myanmar is a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation, and reporting to expose and dismantle the business networks that fuel brutality, corruption and mass-scale suffering. One report at a time, Justice For Myanmar is going after the military’s sources of funds and arms. As a result of its work and the work of many others across Myanmar and the world, multinational corporations have already divested hundreds of millions of dollars from business with the military, and targeted sanctions are beginning to disrupt the Myanmar military cartel’s global network.
About The Sentry
(Short descriptor for press use: “The Sentry, an investigative organization that tracks corruption”)
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Oil and gas
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110.9 KB
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Description:
"News release
October 31, 2023 - Ottawa, Canada - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada, in coordination with the United Kingdom and the United States, is imposing sanctions against 39 individuals and 22 entities under the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations in response to the February 1, 2021, military coup d’état that saw Myanmar’s democratically elected government overthrown by a military regime.
These additional measures come as part of a broader strategy seeking to exert coordinated, sequenced and targeted pressure on the Myanmar military regime while mitigating adverse impacts on civilians. Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States unequivocally condemn the military coup d’état against the democratically elected government of Myanmar and support the aspirations of the Myanmar people to a peaceful, inclusive and democratic future.
Today’s announcement builds on previous sanctions and diplomatic efforts to end the sale and transfer of arms to the military regime. It comes in response to the regime’s ongoing and worsening aerial attacks, including against civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as mass arson, the razing of villages, arbitrary detentions, executions, torture, mutilations, and mass killings of civilians, all of which have deepened the interlinked humanitarian, political and economic crises in Myanmar. The collective actions taken by Canada and its allies aim to maximize concerted pressure on the regime to reverse course and limit its access to key resources and revenue to fuel its violence. The sanctioned individuals and entities have been identified as performing key functions on behalf of the military regime, supplying weapons, resources and revenue, and those that are responsible for democratic reversals. Canada is also expanding its prohibition on the sale of aviation fuel to include a ban on the provision of shipping insurance for the transportation of aviation fuel to Myanmar.
Canada remains committed to ending impunity and to holding the Myanmar regime accountable for serious violations of international law, including against the Rohingya people.
Canada reiterates its support for the people of Myanmar and their aspirations to an inclusive and democratic society and continues to call for the immediate end of violence, the release of detainees and immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to the region. Collectively, the international community must continue to employ all diplomatic tools at its disposal to address the worsening situation in Myanmar, as well as its regional implications..."
Source/publisher:
Government of Canada
Date of publication:
2023-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"U.S. Takes Coordinated Action with Canada and the United Kingdom
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a new directive that prohibits certain financial services by U.S. persons to or for the benefit of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). This sanctions action against MOGE seeks to degrade the regime’s ability to purchase weapons to carry out atrocities against the people of Burma. Additionally, OFAC designated three entities and five individuals connected to Burma’s military regime pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14014. These actions are occurring in alignment with designations by both the United Kingdom and Canada.
Since the military coup in 2021, Burma’s military regime has repeatedly harmed civilians in air strikes, suppressed pro-democracy movements, destroyed homes and infrastructure, and displaced millions of people, among other appalling acts. The sanctions announced today target companies and individuals, including government officials and military cronies, who perpetuate or facilitate the brutal violence in Burma. The military regime officials and supporters that Treasury is designating today have also been, designated by at least the United Kingdom, Canada, or the European Union. These actions are a part of the ongoing, unified strategy of the United States and our partners to combat the Burma military regime’s atrocities.
“Today’s action, taken in coordination with Canada and the United Kingdom, maintains our collective pressure on Burma’s military and denies the regime access to arms and supplies necessary to commit its violent acts,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Collectively, we remain committed to degrading the regime’s evasion tactics and continuing to hold the regime accountable for its violence.”
FINANCIAL SERVICES DIRECTIVE
Today, OFAC is issuing Directive 1 under E.O. 14014, “Prohibitions Related to Financial Services to or for the Benefit of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise” (the “MOGE Financial Services Directive”), which prohibits U.S. persons from the provision, exportation, or re-exportation, directly or indirectly, of financial services to or for the benefit of MOGE or its property or interests in property. These prohibitions will take effect on December 15, 2023.
MOGE is a Burmese state-owned enterprise involved in the extraction, production, and distribution of oil and gas in Burma and administers large offshore oil and gas fields through lucrative joint ventures with foreign entities. MOGE was previously designated by the European Union on February 21, 2022, and remains the largest single source of foreign revenue for Burma’s military regime, providing hundreds of millions of dollars each year. OFAC’s action today builds on previous designation actions against MOGE leadership and seeks to further restrict the regime’s access to U.S. dollars, which it uses to procure weapons and other equipment from abroad. This action will limit the regime’s ability to carry out violent attacks against its own citizens.
For more information about the MOGE Financial Services Directive, click here.
SUPPORTERS OF BURMA’S MILITARY REGIME
Today’s action targets three entities who have assisted the military regime in its continued importation of arms, dual-use goods, and other materials, including from sanctioned entities in Russia and other countries. Since the coup, the total value of imports by the Burmese military is estimated to exceed $1 billion. These imports have facilitated the military regime’s ongoing brutality against on the people of Burma. OFAC’s actions today further align our measures with partners and allies to disrupt the regime’s military supply chain, complicate its ability to maintain and repair its weapons, and reduce the regime’s access to imported arms and materiel.
Sky Royal Hero Company Limited is a Burmese entity which contracted repair work from sanctioned Russian entities and has a known relationship with the Burmese defense procurement company, Sky Aviator Company Limited. Sky Aviator Company Limited was designated by OFAC on November 8, 2022 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy.
Sky Royal Hero Company Limited is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy.
Suntac Technologies Company Limited and Suntac International Trading Company Limited are both part of Sit Taing Aung’s Suntac Group of Companies. Sit Taing Aung, who has close ties to the Burmese military, uses his companies to supply equipment and material to the army, and was designated by OFAC on March 25, 2022, for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy.
Suntac Technologies Company Limited and Suntac International Trading Company Limitedare being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being owned or controlled by, or acting for or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Sit Taing Aung.
Sky Royal Hero Company Limited, Suntac Technologies Company Limited and Suntac International Trading Company Limited are also concurrently being designated by Canada today.
BURMA REGIME OFFICIALS
Following the February 2021 coup, the Burma military regime appointed new officials and officers throughout the government. In their roles, these individuals and others constitute part of the military regime that seized power and overthrew democratically elected leaders in Burma. Today’s action targets five such military regime appointed officials and officers.
Charlie Than was appointed as the Union Minister of the Ministry of Industry in May 2021. Kan Zaw has been the Union Minister of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations since August 2022. Swe Swe Aung was appointed as the Director General of the Prosecution of Department, Ministry of Legal affairs on March 31, 2022. Zaw Min was appointed as the Director General of the Prison Department, Ministry of Home affairs on February 4, 2021. Under his leadership, detainees in Burma’s prisons have been subject to torture, beating, and other inhumane treatment. All four of these individuals were appointed directly by Min Aung Hlaing’s State Administration Council and have been sanctioned by the European Union.
Charlie Than, Kan Zaw, Swe Swe Aung, and Zaw Min are being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being leaders or officials of the Government of Burma on or after February 2, 2021.
Additionally, Maung Maung Aye has been the Chief of General Staff for the Burmese Army, Navy, and Air Force since February 2021. In this role, he holds the third most senior position in the Burmese military. Maung Maung Aye is being sanctioned by Canada today and has been sanctioned by the European Union.
Maung Maung Aye is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being a leader or official of the military or security forces of Burma, or successor entity to any of the foregoing.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s designations pursuant to E.O. 14014, all property and interests in property of the three entities and five individuals named above that are in the United States, or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
Separately, on or after December 15, U.S. persons are prohibited from providing, exporting, or reexporting, directly or indirectly, financial services to or for the benefit of MOGE or its property or interests in property.
Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish but to bring about a positive change in behavior..."
Source/publisher:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Date of publication:
2023-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Sub-title:
The UK, US and Canada have coordinated new sanctions on Myanmar military financiers and arms dealers.
Description:
"UK, US and Canada announce further round of sanctions to maximise pressure on the Myanmar military regime
sanctions target arms dealers responsible for the supply of restricted goods to the security forces, as well as financiers of the military
UK reiterates calls for accountability and a return to democracy and freedom in Myanmar
The UK, US and Canada are today (31 October) announcing further sanctions on arms dealers and financiers of the Myanmar military responsible for the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar. The latest round of UK sanctions are against 5 individuals and one entity involved either in providing financial services to the regime or the supply of restricted goods including aircraft parts.
Today’s sanctions package comes as part of the UK’s concerted efforts with international partners to restrict the sale and transfer of arms and finance in response to ongoing and worsening aerial attacks, including against civilians in Myanmar. In 2022, alone there were over 600 reported airstrikes perpetrated by the Myanmar military.
Since the coup in February 2021, at least 3,857 have been killed by the military, and at least 1.2 million have had to flee their homes due to violence, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
The announcement follows a report from UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, which called for further coordinated sanctions to prevent arms dealers bypassing restrictions.
Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said:
The UK unequivocally condemns the regime’s brutal campaign against the Myanmar people.
Together with our international partners, we are closing the net on Myanmar arms dealers and the Myanmar military’s financiers with new sanctions that will aim to limit their access to key resources and revenue to prevent further such attacks.
The UK will continue to call for accountability, justice and an end to the violence. We remain steadfast in our support for the Myanmar people and their aspirations for a peaceful and democratic future.
On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and installed a military regime. Since then, they have used violence and atrocities to maintain power and suppress any opposition voices.
The UK, US and Canada have taken coordinated and targeted action to hold the military regime to account for their brutal suppression of opposition voices. The sanctions designations announced today will maximise concerted pressure on the Myanmar military regime to engage with calls for a return to democracy and aim to limit regime access to key resources while minimising consequences for the civilian population.
Since the coup, the UK has designated 25 individuals and 29 entities under the Myanmar Sanctions Regime and designated the military’s 2 key conglomerates and their 111 subsidiaries under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. The UK continues to lead international efforts to undermine the regime’s credibility and constrain their access to revenue and arms.
Background
Those sanctioned today are:
Myo Thitsar: has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through the supply to Myanmar of restricted goods. Namely, through her role as having been Head of Department, Procurement & Supply of Dynasty International
Htoo Htet Tay Za: has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through the supply to Myanmar of restricted goods and/or restricted technology, and/or of material related to such goods or technology, and through making available funds or economic resources to the Myanmar security forces. Namely, through his role as having been a director of Htoo Group of Companies
Pye Phyo Tay Za: has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through the supply to Myanmar of restricted goods and/or restricted technology, and/or of material related to such goods or technology, and through making available funds or other economic resources to the Myanmar security forces. Namely, through his role in Myanmar Avia Services, Yangon Aircraft Engineering Company Limited and Htoo Group of Companies
Kyaw Min Oo: has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through the supply to Myanmar of restricted goods and/or restricted technology, and/or of material related to such goods or technology. Namely, through his role as director of Sky Aviator Company Limited
Sit Taing Aung: has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through the supply to Myanmar of restricted goods and/or restricted technology, and/or of material related to such goods or technology. Namely, through his role as having been director of Yatanarpon Aviation Services and work with Mottama Holdings
International Group of Entrepreneur Services Company Limited (IGE): has been involved in the repression of the civilian population in Myanmar through making available funds or other economic resources to the Myanmar security forces
Asset freeze
An asset freeze prevents any UK citizen, or any business in the UK, from dealing with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by the designated person. It also prevents funds or economic resources being provided to or for the benefit of the designated person. UK financial sanctions apply to all persons within the territory and territorial sea of the UK and to all UK persons, wherever they are in the world.
Travel ban
A travel ban means that the designated person must be refused leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom, providing the individual is an excluded person under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of publication:
2023-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Dear Government of Singapore,
The signatories of people of Myanmar[1], signed by over 27,700 (included from ground 1,314) individuals and endorsed by (430) local and international organizations from across the world, are writing to the government of Singapore.
The brutal and illegal Myanmar military junta has been relying on Singapore for funds and the supply of arms, equipment, technology, and jet fuel, enabling its ongoing attacks against the people.
Since February 1, 2021, the junta has been waging a campaign of terror with indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, murder, torture, arbitrary detention, rape and the destruction of homes and food supplies.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar recently revealed[2] that Singapore is the third biggest supplier of arms and equipment[3] to the Myanmar military since its coup attempt, in a trade valued at $254 million from at least 138 Singaporean companies.
Singapore also remains a major business center for the military’s cronies. Some, like Tay Za[4] and Naing Htut Aung[5], enjoy lavish lifestyles in the city state while profiting from the destruction of Myanmar lives.
Despite UK and US sanctions, Shoon Group of Companies are continuing to operate in Singapore, supplying the junta with jet fuel[6] that it needs to wage aerial warfare against the people.
It is clear that from Singapore, businesses are transacting with the Myanmar military and conglomerates, enriching war criminals and supporting their international crimes[7]. But this can and must be stopped.
Singapore has committed to investigate companies supplying arms and dual use goods, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) has recently imposed restrictions[8] on transactions involving Myanmar. Singapore needs to now do more to help stop the junta’s campaign of terror.
We call on Singapore to:
1) Introduce sanctions to stop the direct and indirect transfer of arms, dual-use goods, technology, jet fuel, and related transactions, to the Myanmar military,
2) Utilise money laundering provisions and impose sanctions to ensure the illegal junta cannot access the Singapore financial system, including the USD 4.6 billion of funds that belong to the Government of Myanmar,
3) Expedite and make public ongoing investigations into Singaporean companies that have supplied arms, dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar military.
#DoMoreSingapore
Respectfully,
Signed by the people of Myanmar, (430 orgs) local and international organizations, including (10) local organizations that have chosen not to disclose their names because the junta continues violence in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
430 local and international organizations via Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-10-29
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Oil and gas, Human Rights and international relations
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280.92 KB 299.32 KB
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Sub-title:
With sanctions on the rise, Myanmar’s military is increasingly under pressure and is turning to its few partners for additional support
Description:
"Myanmar’s military may finally be starting to feel the strain of international sanctions, with foreign banks freezing the accounts of Myanmar’s state-owned banks, limiting the junta’s ability to access critical foreign currency reserves. More than two and a half years on from the 2021 coup, the junta continues to rely on the political, military, and diplomatic support of authoritarian partners in Beijing and Moscow who have remained loyal to the generals despite ongoing international outcry and recent gains by Myanmar’s resistance. However, their patronage may not be sufficient for the generals to hold onto power as momentum on the battlefield shifts and overseas banks restrict the regime’s access to critical funds.
Sanctions Start to Bite
At a press conference in late August, the Myanmar military junta’s deputy finance minister Maung Maung Win blamed recent financial instability on U.S. sanctions, which he said were “hurting our government’s programs such as education, health, and infrastructure building…importers and exporters, any person or organizations using foreign banking services.”
The sanctions, announced by the U.S. in June, targeted Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB), state-owned entities which essentially “function as foreign currency exchanges” for the military junta, allowing it to import arms and other military equipment. Analysts say that the sanctions are aimed at blocking the junta’s ability to conduct purchases in foreign currencies as well as receive incoming foreign currency transactions.
Two recent developments signal that the sanctions are beginning to have their desired effect of constraining the junta’s ability to generate and use cash. Firstly, Myanmar military-linked cronies are blatantly creating new entities to get around existing sanctions. A recently leaked letter from Myanmar’s energy ministry instructed the Central Bank of Myanmar to open new accounts to handle foreign currencies in place of Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is under European sanctions and whose top leaders are sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. On August 10, Shwe Byain Phyu Oil and Gas Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP) conglomerate and a top supplier of fuel to Myanmar’s military, dissolved, presumably to evade sanctions. Its owner Thein Win Zaw holds shares in a number of companies already impacted by targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Secondly, foreign banks have begun to cut Myanmar state-owned banks’ access, depriving the junta of much-needed foreign currency reserves. In early August, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) notified Myanmar banks that it would limit their access to funds and would only allow transactions between UOB accounts. The following week, a state-owned bank in Bangladesh announced it was freezing MFTB and MICB accounts comprising more than US $1 billion in assets. These moves have triggered further financial instability in Myanmar as the kyat continues to depreciate, with the Central Bank of Myanmar trading it well below the market value. Restricting the generals’ ability to use reserves in foreign bank accounts to acquire weapons will hurt their capacity to wage endless war and could give resistance forces the upper hand.
The Junta’s Strategy
The junta, or State Administration Council (SAC), has failed to restore investor confidence, and has been unable to quell resistance to its rule. It is now spread thin on the battlefield, and anecdotal evidence suggests that the junta is heavily reliant on aging Russian fighter jets to sustain its asymmetric advantage over resistance forces to mask its lack of control over territory on the ground.
Recent moves by Singapore and Bangladesh to cut the junta’s access to reserves may test its ability to outlast the nationwide grassroots uprising which seeks to oust the generals once and for all. Forced onto the defensive, the junta now relies on a limited network of supporters, most notably China, Russia, and India (as well as several authoritarian Southeast Asian states such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam), to prevent international consensus from forming which could threaten its hold on power.
This overarching strategy, born of a pragmatic acceptance of isolation, was captured in Deputy Senior General Soe Win’s response to a warning from UN Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener the month after the coup: “We have to learn to walk with only a few friends.”
The sit-tat, as Myanmar’s military is known, likes to signal its cool-headed preparedness and project its confidence to weather international condemnation and relative isolation. This strategy helps sustain the pretense in international diplomatic circles that the military will win in the long run and foreign governments will have to re-engage eventually. It simultaneously erodes resistance morale and undercuts the likelihood of further defections.
However, the regime’s confidence is in part based on a bluff which downplays the reality of its vulnerability. Concerted efforts by the international community to deprive the junta of access to financial assets have alarmed the military and underscore the extent to which it depends on a few authoritarian friends to avert regime collapse.
China’s Central Role in the Conflict
Beijing appears to have come around to fully backing Myanmar’s armed forces in the civil war, unable to envision a future scenario without them. China continues to provide the junta with the arms it requires to prolong the war. Despite a non-binding UN Resolution prohibiting the flow of weapons to the Myanmar military, a recent UN report found that Beijing in fact sold US $267 million worth of military equipment to Myanmar’s armed forces in 2022–2023.
China remains the country’s largest trading partner and second largest source of foreign investment after Singapore. Bilateral trade exceeded US $2 billion between April 2022 and January 2023. More than half of China’s investments in Myanmar are in the power sector, while it also has major interests in oil and gas (18 percent of China’s overall investment in Myanmar) as well as the mining sector (17 percent).
Beijing’s political support is also essential to deflect pressure at the United Nations. While China abstained from a UN resolution in December 2022 that expressed “deep concern” with the situation in Myanmar and called for an “immediate end to” violence, Chinese diplomats have stepped up public engagement with the junta since the end of last year.
Beginning with special envoy Deng Xijun’s meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw in December 2022, there have been monthly high-level meetings between the two sides. Deng also hosted a delegation of ethnic armed groups in Yunnan in December. Beijing has applied pressure on several armed groups with whom it has influence not to support the National Unity Government (NUG), thus prolonging the junta’s ability to wage war on armed groups in other parts of the country. In May 2023, then Foreign Minister Qin Gang met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, becoming the most senior Chinese official to meet the junta leader since the coup. During the visit, the two sides pledged to “further promote comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.”
How Russia Helps the Junta to Hedge Against China
As part of its strategy of pragmatic isolation, Min Aung Hlaing’s regime has also relied on Russia as an important partner. In particular, the junta leader looks to Moscow as a trusted friend and important source of leverage to offset overreliance on Beijing. Deepening the Russia-Myanmar partnership is part of Min Aung Hlaing’s hedging policy to avoid falling too much into China’s orbit. The Myanmar military has traditionally feared and distrusted China’s intentions dating back to many of the senior generals’ experience as young combatants fighting against ethnic armed groups with ties to the Communist Party of Burma in the country’s north who had Beijing’s support during the Cold War.
Therefore, Min Aung Hlaing has gone to great personal lengths to cultivate the relationship with Moscow, visiting nine times since becoming commander-in-chief in 2011. He has met Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu roughly half a dozen times, and in September 2022, Min Aung Hlaing met with Putin for the first time at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. During a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Naypyidaw in February 2023, the two sides signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation involving Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM.
Russia has also been a major source of defense technology for Myanmar, providing more arms than China from 2018–2022 (42 percent of total imports compared to 29 percent from China). According to the UN report mentioned above, Russia sold US $406 million worth of military equipment to the Myanmar military in 2022–2023.
Other players: Thailand and India
Unlike Russia and China, whose direct military assistance sustains the junta’s grip on power, Thailand and India play more indirect roles in propping up the SAC. Bangkok’s recent Track 1.5 diplomacy has threatened to overtake Indonesia’s “quiet diplomacy” via ASEAN. In March, Thailand hosted talks with the junta and several autocratic regional partners, including Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as China, India, Bangladesh, and Japan. The following month, India hosted a second Track 1.5 dialogue that included Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and China.
Thailand and India’s rogue initiatives threaten to derail progress under Indonesia’s chairmanship of ASEAN by normalizing SAC participation in international diplomacy. Jakarta has been holding regular closed-door talks with all stakeholders (including representatives of the junta as well as the NUG) in hopes of bringing about inclusive diplomatic negotiations between the military and ousted civilian leaders.
India has also maintained high-level engagement with the Myanmar military since the coup and continues to cooperate in joint counterinsurgency operations along its shared border. Furthermore, the two sides recently heralded the opening of the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, a decades-long shipping route to increase commerce between the two neighboring countries. Beyond shared border concerns and interest in eradicating ethnic armed insurgents, Indian policymakers also fear that Myanmar is gravitating deeper into China’s orbit. Therefore, New Delhi has refrained from condemning the military’s brutal crackdown on civilians, instead limiting itself to expressions of concern about the spiraling conflict. Given close security cooperation and senior-level military engagement, India offers the SAC another pole in its hedging strategy vis-à-vis China.
However, there are important developments in Myanmar’s regional environs. Recent elections in Thailand and Cambodia have significant implications for the junta’s foreign relations. While carefully managed elections in both authoritarian countries are unlikely to bring about significant change to either’s foreign policy, the junta will no doubt be anxious to shore up its standing with new leaders in both Bangkok and Phnom Penh lest they adopt a new approach to Myanmar’s conflict.
In Thailand, the recent brokered election of Pheu Thai candidate Srettha Thavisin as Prime Minister could introduce modest change to Thai foreign policy, though the Thai military still retains control through the 2017 constitution. The outcome represented a compromise between the military-dominated senate and a coalition of opposition parties, including Pheu Thai and the Move Forward Party, the latter of which won the majority of the vote but whose candidate for Prime Minister, Pita Limjaroenrat, was prevented from forming a government. Therefore, Srettha’s leadership is unlikely to radically alter Thailand’s generally supportive relations with the Myanmar military junta.
Nevertheless, Bangkok’s delicate balancing act as a U.S. ally and friend of the junta suggest that the SAC will want to retain channels of communication with the new government to avoid becoming a pawn in larger powers’ diplomatic games. The junta relies on lucrative cashflows from Thailand’s gas imports (US $2.4 billion in 2022, roughly 20 percent of Myanmar’s exports), giving Bangkok—and U.S. sanctions—inordinate leverage over the military regime’s economic survival.
Cambodia’s August elections, which paved the way for Hun Sen to transfer political power to his son Hun Manet, also added to the mix of uncertainty within ASEAN. The 45-year-old leader is a relatively unknown entity for the region and external powers. While he was recently invited to meet top leaders in Tokyo, there are few clues as to whether his leadership might bring about real change in Phnom Penh’s foreign policy. As he received his education in the United States at West Point and New York University and holds a PhD in economics from Bristol University in the United Kingdom, there are some hopes that the young Hun may be more progressive than his authoritarian father and even introduce a diplomatic realignment away from Beijing’s orbit.
Looking Ahead
Regardless of how these regional chess pieces move on the board, the junta has made clear it will not be deterred by international condemnation and that its foreign policy remains an afterthought to its core mission: regime survival. Therefore, internal battlefield dynamics are the most likely variables to determine the senior generals’ calculations of whether and when to seek off-ramps. The regime is prepared to weather international isolation. Yet as long as the international community remains divided, the junta’s few close friends ensure it is not totally alone.
Cutting off the junta’s economic lifelines and its ability to access reserves held in overseas banks will be vital to restricting its ability to wage endless war against the people of Myanmar. There are finally indications that the military may be beginning to feel the pinch of targeted sanctions making life more difficult, but there is still a long way to go in terms of bringing the junta down or forcing it to negotiate with the resistance. For now, the NUG and People’s Defense Forces are settling into a protracted, years-long conflict to wipe out the military once and for all. If that eventuality materializes, the junta’s external patrons—namely China, Russia, and India—might come to regret their no-strings-attached support for the ruthless dictatorship..."
Source/publisher:
Stimson Center
Date of publication:
2023-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-11
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"On October 11, 2023, on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week, the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar signed the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of nuclear infrastructure assessment and enhancement.
The document was signed by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, and Dr. Myo Thein Kyaw, Union Minister for Science and Technology of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
The parties plan to determine the current needs for the development of the nuclear infrastructure of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and draw up a work plan for priority areas important for implementation of the small nuclear power plant construction project in the country. The document determines that the development of nuclear infrastructure will be carried out in accordance with the IAEA approaches and recommendations as well as Rosatom’s best practices.
The memorandum also provides for building up further Russian-Myanmar cooperation in the field of training and human resources development, enhancement of safety culture in the organizations, participating in the nuclear energy development program of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Communications Department of ROSATOM
Date of publication:
2023-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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Description:
"A Myanmar regime military court has handed life imprisonment terms to the junta’s former trade chief, ex-Lieutenant General Moe Myint Tun, and his assistant, ex-Brigadier General Yan Naung Soe, for corruption, according to junta media. The life imprisonment terms are equivalent to 20 years behind bars.
The two were also removed from their military positions.
The court martial verdicts follow the regime’s investigations into the activities of the duo, other high-ranking officials and hundreds of businesspeople last month.
Moe Myint Tun, who has also been purged from the junta’s top administrative body, the State Administration Council, abused his position for personal benefit in violation of economic policies, and committed high treason by going against the roadmap and objectives of the regime, junta media said Tuesday, adding that he took bribes from companies and illegally held foreign currencies. He was the chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee, and the Central Committee for Ensuring Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods.
The regime announcement said he was found guilty of failing to take action against persons who raised the price of palm oil rather than selling it at the reference price set by the government. The Central Bank of Myanmar sold US dollars in order to import palm oil to be sold at the reference price, it said.
“Moreover he … [took] bribes from companies, applying his rank and authority, illegally keeping foreign exchange currencies in hand, and participating in civilian businesses by breaking directives related to military discipline,” the statement reads.
Prior to the investigation, The Irrawaddy reported that Moe Myint Tun had squirreled away millions of US dollars in bribes from businessmen over the past two years. Some of the businessmen told The Irrawaddy they had to pay him at least US$20,000 or the equivalent in gold and gifts—Louis XIII cognac, with a list price of more than $4,000 for a 750ml bottle, was highly preferred—just to meet him.
Yan Naung Soe, joint secretary of the Central Committee for Ensuring Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods, personally benefited from violating the economic policies of the state and committed betrayal of the state and treason together with Moe Myint Tun, the regime said.
“He also exchanged foreign currency for Myanmar kyats for businesspersons by applying his rank and authority, accepted foreign currency and Myanmar kyats from businesspersons, created connections between businesspersons with ex-Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, illegally kept foreign currencies in hand, and participated in civilian businesses in violation of directives related to the military discipline,” the regime said.
The corruption scandal involving Moe Myint Tun and Yan Naung Soe embarrassed regime chief Min Aung Hlaing. He issued a warning late last month that senior military officers and ministers caught abusing their power for personal benefit would face heavy penalties in addition to dismissal.
However, despite Min Aung Hlaing’s highly publicized anti-graft campaign against his subordinates, it is common knowledge that he leads the regime in terms of corruption and that his son Aung Pyae Sone and daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon have abused their father’s power to amass great wealth..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2023-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Corruption, Military History
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Title: ‘It’s a Catastrophe’: Ex-Junta Prisoner, NLD Aide Sean Turnell on Myanmar’s Post-Coup Economy
Description:
"Australian economist Sean Turnell served as a policy adviser to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government during its first term. He was detained by the military shortly after the February 2021 coup and later imprisoned on charges—widely dismissed as trumped up—of violating state secrets and immigration laws. After nearly two years behind bars he was released in November 2022 as part of a general amnesty and has continued to speak out against the military junta from his home country, prompting the regime to revoke its pardon. In the following interview with The Irrawaddy’s Justin Higginbottom, Turnell discusses in detail the economic fallout of the military’s disastrous ‘mismanagement’ of the economy—and whether or not that is in fact the correct term to describe its actions—the post-COVID economic recovery plans the NLD was preparing to implement in its stolen second term, as well as the regime’s access to foreign reserves and what actions foreign governments can take to limit it. He also discusses his forthcoming book describing his experiences as a political prisoner in Myanmar.
THE IRRAWADDY: Can you talk about the general economic situation in Myanmar? What’s going on since the coup? What’s the general situation? Where do they find themselves right now?
TURNELL: I mean it’s just awful.… “Catastrophe” is the word that I generally like to employ. And I don’t think that’s even hyperbole. No matter what you look at, it’s negative essentially. I mean if you begin with growth, economic growth in Myanmar took a bit of a knock with COVID, so we’d been expecting for 2020 a growth rate of about 7 percent, and similar for 2021, but then COVID arrived and growth went down to about 1.8 percent for [2020], and no one was clear about 2021. And it went [to] negative 18 percent [-18 percent] in 2021 [and has] recovered a bit since, but.. If you’d said, OK, where can you reasonably apply the trend line? So in other words you get the knock from COVID but then good policy sort of gets you back on track—which is exactly what’s happened all around the world and all around the region—so it’s not an unreasonable expectation [that] we’d have been back to those sort of growth levels – 6, 7, 8 percent—hopefully, because there actually had been a very aggressive reform program to come into place with that second term of the government; you know, many of the things that weren’t done in the first term were geared up and ready to go in the second term.
So, anyway, just to say that growth rates of 6, 7 percent—we’d have been disappointed if we weren’t hitting those. But irrespective of that, even on the worst assumption of where we’d be at, the economy is now 30 percent below any sort of modest trend; the economy’s about 30 percent down. It’s about 20-odd percent down anyway, but by trend it’s nearly a third. Which is just catastrophic for a country like Myanmar, that is poor to begin with, one of the poorest countries in the world, and people are now one-third poorer than where they should have been. There’s no fat in the system; people are desperately poor now, and they can’t take a knock of one third of their income.
But anyway that’s just growth numbers. No matter what the metric is: the budget deficit is now dramatically blown out. Taxation revenue has now shrunk dramatically along with it. The bond sales are not really proceeding as they could be. The banks are not really in a position to take up the bonds on offer; so all of that means the government is just printing money hand over fist. As a consequence of that we’ve got monetary instability, whether it be measured in terms of high inflation rates, particularly relative to peers in Southeast Asia. [And] a collapsing exchange rate, so the exchange rate is less than half of what it was before the coup. The trade situation’s dire: There’s a bit of holding up in terms of gas revenues, because hydrocarbon prices were quite high, but other than that even other energy prices and income are down; agriculture is down. There’s been a bit of a recovery from the really deep lows immediately after the coup in terms of textiles, but overall the trade situation is terrible. Debt levels have more than doubled. Unemployment, to the extent that it’s measured properly, a lot of the measures are not really there anyway, but we do know that there’s been a wholesale shift from the formal economy to the informal economy—and you don’t get a growing, transforming economy out of one that is based in informality. Informality is really just a coping mechanism and that is where most people are.
On top of that, just the opportunities lost. Back in 2020, young educated Myanmar people had real prospects and had choices about where to get employment, and now people are scattered to the winds outside the country, within the country. People with expensive degrees that they thought would yield them a good income in a growing economy are now on the front lines or in prison. It’s just a catastrophe. I get depressed over so many things in Myanmar; obviously the loss of life and the violence above all, but if you look at the economy, compared to the hopes that people reasonably had for it, it just makes you want to cry.
THE IRRAWADDY: So how much can we chalk this economic ruin up to mismanagement by the junta, or is a lot of it caused by sanctions, or just the general conflict, just the country being in a state of war right now?
TURNELL: I’m probably a little bit biased in this obviously, but to me it comes from… In fact [it’s an] interesting word “economic mismanagement”. I wonder if that is the expression? It’s an expression I’ve used, I hasten to add… The more I think about it, it isn’t really economic mismanagement because in terms of policy—and that’s where a lot of the damage is being done—there is the damage of course being done by violence and so on as well, of course, perpetrated by the regime and instigated by them—but I’m just wondering about that term “mismanagement”, because in some ways what they’re doing is gearing the economy to a war economy and neglecting or abusing everything else, so to some extent it’s management for a purpose. It’s just that that purpose is greatly destructive. But in some ways, if you think about it, what they’ve essentially done is created a war economy, [so] the management that has yielded terrible economic outcomes is in once sense quite deliberate in terms of transferring resources into the military state.
But anyway, it’s only “mismanagement” from an economist’s perspective, and what you’d think would be the objective of any sort of sovereign government. I think we’d have to locate it there, but I think it’s mainly because if we just go to the counterexamples around the world—you don’t have to go to the developed world or rich or even fast-growing economies. You just go to the region and you see the bounce-back [from COVID], and Myanmar is such an extraordinary outlier in terms of economies that just haven’t bounced back, so I think the blame for it is really there. COVID had damaged things but there were some very comprehensive plans to deal with that. Nothing too radical—it was more just the [same] playbook of just about anywhere else, about protecting incomes. And all of that was dismantled after the coup and of course the response to COVID itself was greatly mismanaged and the rest, and repression of medical workers, etc., so even though clearly there were external events, if we look at comparable countries around Myanmar you’d really have to slate most of the economic damage home to the regime and, again, it’s mismanagement, is the word we use for it.
THE IRRAWADDY: We had a story recently that reported that the regime-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar had about US$6.8 billion in foreign reserves as of March 2023. More than half of that’s in Singaporean banks. Do you know how much of that is actually accessible to the regime? If the international community wanted to block access to those reserves what might they want to do?
TURNELL: It’s an interesting one. In terms of “accessible”, it’s hard not to get technical here, because reserves by definition are financial assets that are either issued by other countries like US dollars, euros, Singapore dollars, Australian dollars or whatever, or commodities of some form—valuable commodities such as gold—so in a sense they’re accessible to the point that they still have value. By which I mean, if you have US dollars in a US bank account, those dollars only have value if you can access them at the US bank. So in some ways the question of accessibility is really the critical issue when we think of a country having assets because if they’re not accessible those assets in a sense don’t exist. That’s the first thing to say. That is nothing unusual in a way… It’s not like the regime could access them and bring them home. It could if it was gold. You could just store it at the central bank. But the only way for foreign currency-denominated assets to have value is to have them in foreign currency accounts and usually it’s the case that they’re going to be in foreign banks, so the question of accessibility is caught up with the value of those reserves. It’s a big thing to constrain access to foreign assets of governments. This is why you’ll notice that even with the suspension of access to funds at the [US] Federal Reserve, that that [suspension] is what we’re talking about, rather than the transfer of those assets to anywhere else. This gets into areas of untouchablity or…. a lack of precedent, I would say, for that. So measures to transfer those reserves to anyone else become quite problematic.
Which doesn’t mean you still can’t do things. For instance, the NUG [Myanmar’s shadow, civilian National Unity Government] could come up with some quite creative measures to use the value of reserves in ways that they could … essentially financially engineer other financial assets out of reserves that are not accessible to the regime. I know that’s getting complex because we’re getting into the area of financial engineering and the extent to which [denying the regime] access to reserves—does that create value for anyone else, like an alternative government such as the NUG? And there I think you get into some interesting gray areas. But denial of access is one thing and transferring those assets somewhere else is a different thing, so it’s hard to imagine other countries doing that, apart from the US. The US would be the only one to move in that sort of direction and obviously they have to a certain extent in terms of blocking the regime’s access to the funds at the Federal Reserve, but the others, it’s hard to imagine blocking that.
THE IRRAWADDY: So it’s not realistic to think that Singapore might just one day say, “All those assets you have with us – those aren’t accessible. You can’t take those out.”?
TURNELL: It would be a big leap. Where I was going before with this whole issue of access, this is where this becomes important as well, you would probably have degrees of freedom of movement. So for instance, it’s hard to imagine a country actually blocking another country accessing its reserves. On the other hand, if a country decided that it was going to transfer all of its reserves, it’s hard to imagine that being an easy process either. And in the case of Myanmar, a process that wouldn’t involve extraordinary complications. So the degree to which those reserves are fully accessible to the regime would have to be questionable I think.
THE IRRAWADDY: You’re writing a book about your experience in prison, I believe? Did you want to say anything about that?
TURNELL: Sure. We’ll probably go on a big publicity thing in a few weeks. It’s finished. Just a few technical things with the publisher, which is Penguin. It starts with my arrest back on Feb. 6, 2021. I’ve got a couple of chapters that deal with what we were trying to do in Myanmar, just a broad outline of the reform process, things like that. But for the most part it’s all about the prison experience—arrest, Insein [Prison in Yangon], up to Naypyitaw, the trial, the incredible support I got from my fellow political prisoners and then from the Burmese people more broadly. It doesn’t hold back from detailing the horrors all around me but it’s still a little bit of a “love letter” to the Burmese people, because even though there were these terrible people who were keeping me in the prison, it was the case that 99 percent of the people I dealt with even in the prisons and so on were incredibly compassionate, and incredibly courageous in demonstrating that compassion. I’m very, very blunt in saying how awful the prison was and saying how absurd the trial was and what a terrible injustice was meted out not just to me but more importantly to my Burmese colleagues and people who weren’t even connected with my case, but whose cases I got to know about. I met people who were being tortured and so on, and ill-treated. They even ill-treated me—you know, one would have surely thought that I would have told the story once I got out and of course I did so, which caused the SAC regime [the State Administration Council, as the junta calls itself] to get extremely upset anew. So I think they’re going to get upset again in a few weeks when the book’s out.
(Turnell concluded the interview by offering to add to his earlier reply to the question regarding the junta’s access to foreign reserves.)
If you hold US dollars in a bank, obviously they’re not physical, all they are is on the balance sheet of a bank, and they’re just a promise from the bank to pay US dollars. So you open an account, let’s say it’s 1 billion US dollars, and that account is really just a liability of that bank to pay you. So you give them a billion dollars and they then open up a liability, which is just a deposit account, which says that they will repay that billion at some point in time. But it’s only an asset that sits on the balance sheet of that bank. I guess what I was trying to get at is that access to reserves depends on that relationship between you and the financial institution. Again, it’s so different to gold, etc. It’s not a physical commodity that can just be moved about. It depends on the decision [of the bank] and so if a bank grants access then those assets have value. If that access is in any way compromised, those assets no longer have value, and I think that was the nuance I was trying to get at with respect to even places like Singapore—that the extent to which there’s any doubt of you being able to access quickly and in full your reserves puts a shadow over those reserves, even if there’s no sanctions and so on.
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2023-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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Description:
"As world leaders gather for the G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend, Burma Campaign UK is calling on G20 members to put pressure on Prime Minister Modi over India arming, financing, and providing diplomatic support for the Myanmar/Burmese military.
A report earlier this year by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar revealed that India-based entities have supplied $51 million worth of arms and related materials to the military since February 2021.
Indian companies have entered into business relationships with the military or are working for the Burmese military, helping to finance the military and providing it with technology enabling it to arrest human rights and democracy activists.
Diplomatically, India has been working regionally to undermine ASEAN’s five-point consensus and assist the military in gaining the international legitimacy it craves, while also attempting to protect the military at a global level, including at the UN Security Council, negotiating to weaken a resolution on Burma and then refusing to vote in favour of it.
The Burmese military were already facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity even before their attempted coup began in 2021, and India continued to arm them despite this. Since the coup, United Nations investigators have said the military is committing an increasing number of human rights violations which could be classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Numerous Burmese civil society organisations have documented daily atrocities by the Burmese military.
More than 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes, thousands killed and almost 25,000 arrested. Airstrikes and long-range artillery are used to target schools, hospitals, homes and religious buildings.
India has been mistreating refugees from Burma, refusing to give them legal sanctuary and arresting, beating and detaining refugees, and threatening them with deportation.
“We have seen a succession of world leaders visiting India and failing to challenge Modi on his support for the Burmese military,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The G20 is an opportunity for world leaders to come together and collectively pressure Modi to stop arming the Burmese military. Modi must not be allowed to use the summit to promote himself while at the same time arming a military which bombs schools and hospitals.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-09-04
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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Sub-title:
Junta leaders are blaming saboteurs and speculators for inflation and devaluation caused by their mismanagement.
Description:
"Amid the news of escalating violence, it’s easy to lose sight of two events in August 2023 that exposed the Myanmar military regime’s vulnerability.
First, in a video message to the Moscow International Security Conference, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing complained about the weaponization of the dollar.
Second, the August appointment of Lt Gen Nyo Saw to two special commissions on trade and foreign exchange that report directly to junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. Saw is a close confidant, but as the chairman of military-owned conglomerate Myanma Economic Corporation (MEC) and a director of military’s other holding company, Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL), he’s also the military’s most experienced economic and business expert.
It’s hard to overstate just how bad Myanmar’s economy is. Although the World Bank predicts GDP to grow at 2 to 3% this year, the economy has contracted by 12% since January 2021. A decade’s worth of economic growth was eviscerated.
Nearly 60% of the population is now living beneath the poverty line, and the World Bank is warning about food insecurity across the country. Between war, climate change, and currency controls that limited the amount of the imports of fertilizer and pesticides, agricultural production is down.
Although 2022-23 saw $1.6 billion in pledged foreign investment – almost all of which was from China or boomerang Myanmar investment via Singapore and Hong Kong – far less was actually realized. Other foreign investors are pulling out, citing poor market conditions, pressure from activists, and reputational costs. This has diminished the corporate tax base.
With the exception of gas and oil sales to Thailand and China, exports have been hard hit. According to the military government’s Ministry of Commerce, in the first eight months of 2022, total exports reached $6.57 billion, giving the country a $172 million trade surplus.
In the same period in 2023, total exports dropped by 9.8% to $5.93 billion, with a $500 million trade deficit. But if one disaggregates border trade, it’s even worse.
Currency control confusion
Exports to overseas markets fell by 21%. And it will worsen as key manufacturers, such as clothing makers H&M, Primark, and Inditex,- have left. Some retailers are now shunning Myanmar gemstones.
Trade has been hard hit by a series of hastily implemented currency controls that change regularly, upsetting businesses. Some of the more recent currency controls have forced any individual or business with more than $10,000, without a permit, to purchase the kyat currency at the official exchange rate of 2,100 to the U.S. dollar.
The black market rate for the greenback is 3,900 kyat , a 300% decline in the value of the currency since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
Myanmar’s banks are increasingly isolated. U.S. sanctions on Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, which were responsible for the clearing of most U.S. dollar transactions, have forced costly workarounds, such as establishing new shell companies and bank accounts.
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) announced that they would close the accounts of Myanmar, and had already stopped providing banking services for Myanmar Airways International. Other Singapore banks are expected to follow suit, following signaling from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the additional reporting requirements due to the Financial Action Task Force blacklist. A Bangladesh bank froze the accounts of the two sanctioned banks.
Government revenue is flat or declining. While officially a secret, projections built into the annual Union Taxation Law paint a grim picture. The Internal Revenue Department has warned that revenue from lotteries, income tax, corporate taxes, natural resource rents, and customs duties have all stayed flat or contracted since the coup; only rents from oil and gas exports have gone up. Tax authorities are now specifically hitting medical professionals with preemptive taxes.
According to data compiled by the opposition National Unity Government (NUG), the Central Bank of Myanmar has compelled banks, state-owned enterprises and insurance companies to buy an estimated 26.5 trillion kyat in bonds, $3.1 billion at the black market rate, since the coup. With an inability to repay, and an NUG pledge that the bonds will not be honored, these are additional liabilities for banks that are already saddled with non-performing loans.
The regime is broke and may have turned on the printing presses. The NUG estimates that the military government has printed up to 20 trillion kyat, roughly $5.1 billion at black market rates, since the coup, partially explaining the high inflation.
Sanctions take a bite
In July 2023, the junta issued a K20,000 note, the highest denomination, creating an inflationary spike and a further decline in the currency’s value. It’s supposed to be a limited issue currency, but with 14% inflation, a higher denominated note may be required.
While international sanctions have not resulted in a massive seizure of funds, they’ve not been insignificant either. The U.S.immediately froze $1.1 billion of Central Bank of Myanmar assets following the coup. The European Union froze $503 million when it sanctioned the Ministry of Oil and Gas Enterprise. More importantly, the sanctions have made everything harder for the junta.
The NUG has identified 13 other banks around the world that are holding some $5.5 billion in Central Bank of Myanmar assets, 67% of which are in nine banks in Singapore. Should the NUG ever convince the Singapore government to freeze those assets, it would deliver the coup de grâce.
This degree of economic mismanagement is a crime in itself, right up there with the military’s daily war crimes. The economy is the regime’s Achilles heel and they don’t have the competence to fix it. Their penchant for control has brought banking to a standstill.
An August meeting of the central bank and other top ministries tapped an intelligence agency to lead an investigation into the high rates of inflation and depreciating kyat. Meanwhile, the regime has revoked the licenses of 30 foreign exchange traders.
This says so much about the junta’s way of thinking. They are oblivious to the fact that it’s their mismanagement that has caused both depreciation and inflation, yet the benighted and paranoid military is convinced that it’s the work of saboteurs and speculators.
All the while, the generals are doing everything they can to enrich themselves and move assets overseas, before it all comes crumbling down..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-09-02
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"Justice For Myanmar spoofs Forbes 30 Under 30 to profile tycoons funnelling funds, arms and related equipment from Singapore to illegitimate junta
Justice For Myanmar today launched a new effort to draw attention to tycoons supporting the illegal Myanmar military junta. The inaugural Dirty Over 30 list features nine tycoons who continue to funnel funds, arms and related equipment to the junta through the “business-friendly” haven of Singapore, which is currently the third-largest supplier of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military. Future editions will feature tycoons in other regions who are enabling and profiting from the crisis in Myanmar.
The campaign is launching ahead of the 2023 ASEAN Summit in Indonesia to pressure Singapore and other ASEAN member countries to more effectively block the movement of funds and arms to the Myanmar junta.
Meet nine paragons of dirty business
The Dirty Over 30 Singapore edition includes nine businesspeople who’ve amassed sizable fortunes funding brutality, mass-murder and war crimes in Myanmar and who continue to do business in Singapore. They include:
Tay Za, Founder and Chairperson, Htoo Group of Companies
Naing Htut Aung, Founder and Managing Director, International Gateways Group of Companies
Aung Hlaing Oo, Founder and Managing Director, Myanmar Chemical & Machinery Group
Aung Moe Myint, Founder and Director, Dynasty Group of Companies
Tun Min Latt, Founder and Managing Director, Star Sapphire Group of Companies
Khin Phyu Win, Founder and Director, Asia Sun Group of Companies
Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung, CEO, KT Group
Thein Win Zaw, Founder and Chairperson, Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies
George Yin Soon, Investor
The Dirty Over 30 list parodies the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Portraits of the Dirty Over 30 “dishonourees” were created using real photos and sophisticated AI facial composites. The profiles include factual details about their lives and dirty business dealings. Notably, in what has been called the “30 Under 30 pipeline to prison,” the pattern of unethical and illegal behaviour amongst “honourees” of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list suggests that the profiteers on the Dirty Over 30 list may not be outliers in the business world.
Putting pressure on the Singaporean government
The Singaporean government has already committed publicly to stopping the movement of arms to Myanmar, but so far their efforts have fallen short. A recent report from the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar identifies 138 unique suppliers in Singapore doing $247 million worth of trade with the Myanmar military. The report concludes that if the Singaporean government successfully stopped all arms trading to the Myanmar military from its jurisdiction, it would “significantly disrupt” the junta’s ability to commit war crimes.
Since the coup attempt in 2021, the Myanmar military has killed at least 4,023 people, including children, committed widespread torture and has arbitrarily arrested over 24,000 people. Many have been killed through indiscriminate airstrikes that require a continued supply of aircraft parts, jet fuel and raw materials that the military needs to manufacture bombs and bullets. It has jailed and tortured countless others.
With the Dirty Over 30 project, Justice For Myanmar calls on Singapore to:
Introduce sanctions to stop the direct and indirect transfer of arms, dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar military.
Block the junta’s access to Singapore’s financial system through targeted sanctions, including on junta banks.
Expedite and make public ongoing investigations into Singaporean companies that have supplied arms, dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar military.
Push for more sanctions from other ASEAN countries on the Myanmar military and entities that transact business with it..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-09-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights and international relations
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120.53 KB 144.68 KB
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Description:
"Justice For Myanmar and The Sentry welcome the recent adoption of sanctions by the United States on two Myanmar state-owned banks, the issuance of a determination on the jet fuel sector, and sanctions targeting a supplier of jet fuel to the Myanmar military. These measures are designed to further weaken the Myanmar junta's ability to access the weapons that it uses in the brutal war it is waging against the country’s population, including through indiscriminate airstrikes.
As global leaders are about to meet in Myanmar’s region, first for meetings with ASEAN in Indonesia from September 2-7 and then for the G20 summit in India from September 9-10, The Sentry and Justice For Myanmar reiterate their call for the US and likeminded partners to take the gloves off and adopt much stronger sanctions on the Myanmar junta and its enablers. The US’s show of resolve would be significantly strengthened by joining the European Union in sanctioning the Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the junta’s single largest source of foreign currency earnings.
The US and its partners have already improved coordination to more effectively target military-owned businesses, state-owned enterprises, and networks of individuals and corporate entities that enable the junta’s access to international trade and finance. However, this coordination is far from comprehensive, creating loopholes for the junta and its networks of enablers.
For instance, while the US has sanctioned the Star Sapphire Group of Companies’ co-owners, Tun Min Latt and his wife Win Min Soe, for their firms’ involvement with the import of military equipment, the United Kingdom has not sanctioned Win Min Soe to date, and other US partners including the EU, Canada, and Australia have yet to adopt sanctions on the Star Sapphire companies and their co-owners. At the time of his arrest by the Thai police in Bangkok in September 2022 on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, Tun Min Latt held assets in the names of the two adult children of Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar junta, according to Justice For Myanmar and Reuters. These assets included the property deed for a luxury condominium and bankbooks for Thai bank accounts.
The US should urge the newly elected leader of its longtime ally Thailand to effectively enforce sanctions targeting the junta’s sources of funds, equipment, and jet fuel, and to more broadly ramp up the fight against illicit financial flows, as the crisis in Myanmar and other regional trends lead to the rise of transnational crime in the Mekong region. Enhanced collaboration between regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, and banks—the latter acting as gatekeepers to the international financial system—is essential in that regard.
Singaporean banks have reportedly strengthened their compliance and risk management measures toward Myanmar since the coup. It was stated during parliamentary questions in July 2023 that, “as Myanmar is on the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force [FATF], financial institutions in Singapore have also been applying enhanced due diligence for Myanmar-linked customers and transactions that present higher risks.” A media report in August 2023 revealed that United Overseas Bank (UOB), a key offshore bank for “Myanmar’s generals, big corporations and wealthy individuals,” would be restricting transactions and correspondent banking relationships, partly to avoid falling foul of mounting US sanctions on the country. Justice For Myanmar and The Sentry welcome these positive steps, and the US should continue to support Singapore, which currently chairs the FATF, in its efforts to prevent illicit financial flows, including as related to Myanmar. Other Singaporean banks, while avoiding de-risking that could potentially impact on humanitarian aid as well as on trade and business activities that do not benefit the junta, should follow UOB in restricting transactions and correspondent banking relationships, and Singapore authorities should adopt further restrictive measures to prevent the junta’s access to funds and equipment.
Finally, the US needs to encourage its partners in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue to step up their responses to the crisis in Myanmar. Quad member Australia has only targeted a small number of entities and individuals in February 2023; in coordination with the US and other partners, it should do more to catch up. The US should encourage Japan, which chairs the G7 in 2023, to coordinate with ASEAN to ensure that no junta representatives are invited to the December 2023 summit in Tokyo that celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the regional organization. As for India, the US must call for the sale of military equipment to the Myanmar junta to be fully suspended, as research by Justice For Myanmar has found that several Indian firms, including ones controlled by New Delhi, have supplied the junta after the coup. The Quad can and must do more to tackle the crisis in Myanmar.
Yadanar Maung, spokesperson, stated for Justice For Myanmar: “The international community is failing the people of Myanmar. Statements of concern and condemnation have had no impact on the illegitimate junta and the daily atrocities it is committing against the people of Myanmar. Instead, governments and international organizations need to take concrete steps to block the junta’s access to the resources it needs to continue its campaign of terror and ensure that there is international accountability for the military’s genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”
Oliver Windridge, Director of Illicit Finance Policy at The Sentry, said: “The recent adoption of sanctions by the United States on two Myanmar state-owned banks, the issuance of a determination on the jet fuel sector, and sanctions targeting a supplier of jet fuel supplier to the Myanmar military are positive steps forward, but more must be done. As global leaders meet in Myanmar’s region for meetings with ASEAN and then for the G20 summit, The Sentry and Justice For Myanmar reiterate their call for the US and likeminded partner to take the gloves off and adopt much stronger sanctions targeted at the Myanmar junta and its enablers.”
For media inquiries or interview requests for The Sentry, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, [email protected]
For media inquiries for Justice For Myanmar, please contact: Yadanar Maung, Spokesperson, [email protected]
About Justice For Myanmar
Justice For Myanmar is a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation, and reporting to expose and dismantle the business networks that fuel brutality, corruption and mass-scale suffering. One report at a time, Justice For Myanmar is going after the military’s sources of funds and arms. As a result of its work and the work of many others across Myanmar and the world, multinational corporations have already divested hundreds of millions of dollars from business with the military, and targeted sanctions are beginning to disrupt the Myanmar military cartel's global network.
About The Sentry
(Short descriptor for press use: “The Sentry, an investigative organization that tracks corruption”)
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and "other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-09-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s civilian National Unity Government (NUG) aims to bankrupt the junta through tougher sanctions and diplomatic pressure, foreign minister Daw Zin Mar Aung told the media on Tuesday.
“We aim to increase our efforts to lobby the international community to impose more economic sanctions and more diplomatic pressure upon the military council, which is oppressing the people and committing violence,” said Daw Zin Mar Aung.
She said the NUG will engage with any country that supports efforts to end military rule in Myanmar.
The US expanded its sanctions on August 23 to aviation fuel, adding two Burmese business owners and three companies that supply jet fuel to the regime to its Specially Designated Nationals List.
The US was the first country to impose sanctions after the February 1, 2021, coup with measures taken against Myanmar’s top 10 generals by February 11.
The UK and Canada also imposed sanctions on the generals by February 18.
Further sanctions against the regime’s leaders, advisers, the children of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and military-owned conglomerates followed from the US, UK and European Union in March and April.
In May 2021, the US issued further sanctions on more junta members and its ruling body.
The EU sanctioned junta cabinet ministers and the attorney general in June 2021 and in July the US sanctioned more junta members, their relatives and Chinese firms.
In September 2021 the UK sanctioned Tay Za, a notorious junta crony, and his businesses for providing financial support and arms to the military.
To mark a year since the coup, the US, UK and Canada sanctioned three junta appointees while Washington also targeted four businessmen who were supporting the regime and two organizations providing arms and equipment.
The EU sanctioned more companies, including the junta-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.
In June 2022 the UK sanctioned three firms from Russia and three from Myanmar for supplying aircraft parts to the junta. The UK expanded these measures a month later to other junta-linked companies.
In October the US placed arms dealers in Myanmar on its sanctions blacklist and in November the US and EU extended sanctions, targeting the Sky Aviator aviation company and its owner and 19 other individuals, including a minister and the chief justice.
To mark two years since the coup, the EU imposed further sanctions on junta members, its arms brokers and jet fuel suppliers.
In June this year, the US sanctioned the junta’s defense ministry and the regime-run Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, which handle the junta’s foreign currency exchanges. Last month the EU sanctioned six more junta members.
The NUG’s foreign ministry thanked the countries imposing sanctions upon junta assets, individuals and allied businesses.
Daw Zin Mar Aung said the NUG is also working with regional neighbors, although only East Timor has officially recognized the civilian government.
“No neighboring countries have officially recognized us yet but they are communicating with us. We need to maintain these relations through engagement, proceeding silently,” she said.
Daw Zin Mar Aung praised Indonesia, the current Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair, for its active role in Myanmar’s crisis. She called for the progress to be continued next year when Laos is chair.
“The military council has not respected ASEAN’s five-point consensus and it does not listen to anyone or anybody,” she said. “We urge ASEAN to keep up its progress and maintain institutional relations with the NUG as well.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2023-08-30
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Justice For Myanmar welcomes the US determination authorising sanctions against any company or individual that operates in the jet fuel sector of the Myanmar economy, including through “activities related to the importation, exportation, reexportation, sale, supply, or transport, directly or indirectly, of jet fuel”. This follows the US determination ordering sanctions against companies and individuals operating in the defence sector of the Myanmar economy under Executive Order 14014 on February 10, 2021.
The new determination is an important step to dismantle the junta’s access to jet fuel, and sends a clear message that companies involved in all stages of the junta’s jet fuel supply chain can face US sanctions.
This comes after a campaign from Myanmar and international civil society calling for countries to block the junta’s access to jet fuel, and is a response to the junta’s reliance on air strikes to wage its campaign of terror against the people.
We urge the US to follow up its determination with sanctions against companies enabling the junta’s access to jet fuel, including those in the shipping and insurance industries.
We further welcome sanctions against Khin Phyu Win, Zaw Min Tun, and three Singapore companies: Shoon Energy Pte Ltd and two of its subsidiaries: PEIA Pte Ltd (formerly Puma Energy Irrawaddy Aviation) and P.E.I Energy Pte Ltd (formerly Puma Energy Irrawaddy).
Shoon group of companies, formerly Asia Sun, is a key local partner of the Myanmar military junta and is involved in importing, storing, selling and delivering jet fuel to the military.
Asia Sun’s role in the Myanmar military’s jet fuel supply chain was detailed in the Amnesty International report, Deadly Cargo, with research contributed by Justice For Myanmar.
We note that the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP is currently the listed auditor of two of the newly sanctioned Singapore businesses: PEIA Pte Ltd and P.E.I Energy Pte Ltd. We call on Ernst & Young to immediately cut ties with these businesses and any other companies involved in the supply of jet fuel to Myanmar.
The sanctioning of more companies in Singapore highlights the failure of the Singapore government to block the use of its territory to support the Myanmar military junta. This week, 200 civil society organisations including Justice For Myanmar sent an open letter to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore’s Foreign Minister, urging him to introduce sanctions to prevent the direct and indirect transfer of arms, dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar military, and to block the junta’s access to Singapore’s financial system through targeted sanctions, which it has imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Singapore should listen to the voices of Myanmar civil society and the recent recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar by taking concrete action to help end the crisis in Myanmar.
We reiterate our call for coordinated sanctions on the junta controlled Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE) and the complete Shoon network. MPE controls the jet fuel supply chain, operates the Mann Refinery which produces jet fuel, and jointly owns National Energy Puma Aviation Services (NEPAS) with Shoon. NEPAS imports, stores and distributes jet fuel. Shoon Energy Thilawa Terminal Company Limited (formerly Puma Energy Asia Sun) operates a major fuel terminal and storage tanks. MPE, NEPAS and Shoon Energy Thilawa Terminal have not yet been sanctioned in any jurisdiction.
The illegal junta relies on its air force to wage a war of terror against the people of Myanmar. In the first two months of 2023 alone, Chin Human Rights Organization documented one airstrike per day in Chin State townships under martial law. A recent New York Times investigation details how the junta’s use of airstrikes against the people of Myanmar is worsening. The junta’s ability to carry out its indiscriminate airstrikes depends on its access to jet fuel.
By supporting the supply of jet fuel to the Myanmar military, businesses are complicit in the junta’s airstrikes, which amount to atrocity crimes, and all those responsible should be held accountable under international law.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the latest significant steps the US has taken in issuing a sanctions determination against the jet fuel sector and in sanctioning key companies and individuals that supply jet fuel to the Myanmar military, and are complicit in its indiscriminate airstrikes.
“We urge the US to swiftly follow the determination by sanctioning international businesses in the junta’s jet fuel supply chain to help stop its ongoing airstrikes against the people of Myanmar.
“We urge the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia to coordinate sanctions against companies and individuals in the junta’s jet fuel supply chain, along with arms brokers and entities that provide the junta with sources of revenue, including Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
“It is concerning that Shoon group has continued to operate in Singapore, along with many other companiessupporting the junta’s international crimes.
“Recent US and UK sanctions against Singapore companies should be a wake-up call to the Singaporen government to act in accordance with its international responsibilities and stop allowing Singaporean companies to provide the junta with access to arms, equipment, technology, jet fuel and funds.
“We note Singapore Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's recent statement committing to a prohibition on the transfer of arms and dual use goods to Myanmar, but comprehensive action needs to be seen.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-08-24
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
124.32 KB 135.57 KB
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Sub-title:
Sanctions this year cover 10 people and 15 entities, all tied to the forces that seized power from the elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
Description:
"WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration expanded its sanctions Wednesday on Myanmar's military junta to include foreign companies or people helping the regime acquire jet fuel used in airstrikes on its own people.
Among those newly designated by the State and Treasury departments are two people and three entities accused of supplying the military.
“The United States will continue to seek to deprive the military regime of the resources that enable its oppression of the people of Burma,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, adhering to a U.S. policy by which the country is still called by the name that it shed over 30 years ago after the ruling junta brutally suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
War crimes from on the ground in Myanmar are recounted in the statement, which highlights in particular fighter jet and helicopter attacks that killed up to 90 civilians in April and June.
“The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Burma in their pursuit of freedom and democracy,” Brian Nelson, under secretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the press release.
Myanmar's military, called the Tatmadaw, has been in power since 1962. Though the country started a transition to democracy in 2011, military leaders tightened their grip in response to recent elections that brought overwhelming victories for the opposition party, National League for Democracy.
The influence of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi brought improved relations with Washington. The Obama administration lifted longstanding sanctions in 2016, but Myanmar's worsening treatment of Rohingya Muslims led the Trump administration to reimpose sanctions a year later.
After the NLD made more gains in the November 2020 elections, the military disputed the results. It seized control of the government in February 2021, arresting Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and chief regional political leaders.
The coup kicked off a civil war, with opposition leaders who weren’t arrested forming a National Unity Government in exile and launching an armed resistance against the Tatmadaw.
Myanmar's military has claimed it will hold elections again in 2023, but the State Department is skeptical that any vote under the existing political landscape would hold legitimacy. The regime has also not set a firm date, originally floating August, but now saying it could be sometime in November.
The Biden administration appears to be ramping up sanctions, with 10 people and 15 entities designated so far this year, compared with 16 people and nine entities in all of 2022.
In the civil war that has broken out in response to Myanmar's 2021 coup, an estimated 6,000 civilians have been killed, with tens of thousands detained and more than 1.5 million displaced. Meanwhile, widespread food and fuel shortages have occurred as part of an economic collapse.
The White House has responded with sanctions on 85 people and 55 business entities tied to the military regime..."
Source/publisher:
"Courthouse News Service" (California)
Date of publication:
2023-08-23
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title:
The sanctions are in response to the military regime’s “violent airstrikes” against civilians.
Description:
"The U.S. Treasury Department has expanded sanctions aimed at Myanmar’s military junta so that any “foreign individual or entity” linked to procuring jet fuel for the military government can be targeted.
More than 3,900 civilians have been killed by the regime since it seized power in February 2021, the Treasury Department said, with the junta increasingly reliant on “violent airstrikes” against civilians, including “women and schoolchildren,” to maintain its hold on power.
A press release from the Treasury Department singled out two recent air strikes on civilians in the Sagaing region – one in April and one in June – as the impetus for the expansion of the sanctions.
The announcement Wednesday was accompanied by the designation of two Burmese individuals – Khin Phyu Win and Zaw Min Tun – and a company – Shoon Energy Pte. Ltd – that the Treasury Department said were involved in procuring jet fuel for use by Myanmar’s military.
The sanctions mean that American citizens and firms, including banks, cannot have any business relationship with those sanctioned.
“By expanding the use of our sanctions authority to target an additional sector critical to the military regime, we are able to further deprive the regime of the resources that enable it to oppress its citizens,” Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted as saying in Wednesday’s statement.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that the sanctions were intended to put pressure on the junta.
"The United States will continue to seek to deprive the military regime of the resources that enable its oppression of the people of Burma," he said.
Sagaing has been a hotbed of clashes between the military junta and the People’s Defense Forces since the February 2021 coup. Almost 800,000 residents of the region have been forced to flee due to the conflict since the junta seized power, the United Nations says..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-08-23
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"To: H.E. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Singapore
Open letter regarding Singapore’s response to business linked to Myanmar junta
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to take meaningful and concrete action to block the Myanmar military junta’s access to arms, dual-use goods, technology and funds, which are used in its ongoing campaign of terror against the people.
We specifically ask you:
to expedite and make public investigations into Singapore-based companies involved in and enabling the transfer of arms and dual-use goods and technology transferred, transited, shipped or brokered through Singapore to the Myanmar military;
introduce sanctions to prevent the direct and indirect transfer of arms, dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar military;
block the Myanmar junta’s access to Singapore’s financial system through targeted sanctions.
Since its attempted coup on 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military has killed more than 3,800 people, detained more than 23,000 and displaced more than 1.6 million. The Myanmar military has scorched at least 70,000 homes and razed villages to the ground. They have weaponized and blocked humanitarian aid, depriving the people of food, water and basic needs. They have even attacked schools and hospitals. Compared to last year, there is a 33 percent increase in indiscriminate airstrikes in the first half of 2023, according to the UN. The Myanmar military can continue to commit these atrocities because countries including Singapore continue to allow—or fail to prevent—the transfer of arms, dual-use goods and technology to the military junta and continued access to their banking systems.
In our view, the best way to hinder the Myanmar junta from continued access to funds, arms, dual-use goods and technology is through an autonomous sanctions regime on Myanmar by Singapore that goes beyond a principled oral expression of commitment in response to investigations by the UN and human rights organizations.
As Your Excellency is aware, in 2023, several reports have raised concerns over the fact that Singapore is a major jurisdiction for the transfer of various items—in particular dual-use goods and technology—intended for use by the Myanmar armed forces. A May 2023 report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar identified at least 138 Singapore-based firms that had acted as intermediaries for the Myanmar military, and highlighted how these firms had shipped arms and related goods worth $254 million USD to Myanmar between February 2021 and December 2022. This follows a report by the activist group Justice For Myanmar which named 38 Singapore companies and their directors and shareholders that have brokered arms and equipment to the Myanmar military and a report by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), that highlighted how Singapore continues to function as a strategic transit point for potentially significant volumes of items—including certain raw materials—that feed the Myanmar military’s weapons production industry.
We understand that since the release of these reports, investigations into the conduct of the companies have been initiated by your Government. We welcome these investigations and ask you to expedite them and make public the results.
The May 2023 report by the UN Special Rapporteur also noted that arms dealers move hundreds of millions of dollars through Singaporean banks to supply the Myanmar military. Many Myanmar companies—including companies directly associated with the junta—have offices in Singapore. It is routine practice for companies with direct ties to the Myanmar military to place funds in Singaporean banks. Despite some Western sanctions imposed, most of these companies continue to operate freely, providing a conduit of weapons, munitions and spare parts as well as dual-use items and technology to the junta and through the banking system. We note, in particular, the serious allegations that substantial foreign reserves of Myanmar are suspected to be held in Singapore, providing a financial lifeline for the junta.
The long-standing and well-documented reliance by military-linked companies on the Singaporean banking sector gives Singapore more influence on Myanmar than most other ASEAN member states. It is our view that the degree of cooperation from Singaporean banks will have a major impact on the effectiveness of sanctions on the Myanmar junta.
A legal memorandum from international barristers Felicity Gerry KC and Daye Gang, published by Justice For Myanmar, also concluded that Singapore has an international legal obligation “to investigate, prevent and cease transactions that amount to wrongful acts”, which are applicable to business transactions with the Myanmar military and its business interests. While we appreciate the circular reportedly issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) calling for enhanced due diligence measures to detect and mitigate the risks associated with higher-risk customers and transactions related to Myanmar, and the June 2023 statement by MAS noting that financial institutions should continue to be alert to the heightened risks arising from the situation in Myanmar, much more needs to be done. This includes targeted sanctions against military businesses and an autonomous sanction regime that will stop Singapore-registered companies directly and indirectly procuring arms and dual-use goods and technology for the Myanmar military.
On 14 February 2023, during a parliamentary hearing addressing the report by SAC-M, your Excellency confirmed Singapore’s commitment to not authorize the transfer of dual-use items which have been assessed to have potential military application to Myanmar where there is a serious risk that they may be used to inflict violence against unarmed civilians, and that the government of Singapore would not hesitate to take action against those who contravene relevant laws, including Singapore’s Strategic Goods (Control) Act. This commitment is significant as Singapore is the third largest source of arms and dual-use goods for the Myanmar military after Russia and China. However, it is concerning that half a year later, your Excellency’s expressed commitment has only been communicated orally, and we have not yet seen a policy commitment that includes consequences for non-compliance.
During the parliamentary hearing, you noted that specifically on military sales, there had been no transfers of arms to Myanmar in recent years. While this is welcome, the problem, as we see it, is not a question of transfers of conventional arms to Myanmar, but the numerous times that dual-use goods and technology that originates from or transits Singapore—whether transferred directly or indirectly to the junta—has ended up in the hands of the Myanmar military.
Your Excellency, we therefore ask Singapore to adopt and implement export restrictions on Myanmar. This would follow the recent precedent of restrictive measures applied by your government to Russia, pursuant to which applications to export military items, controlled electronics, controlled computers, and certain telecommunications and encryption items to Myanmar would be rejected. In addition, financial measures targeted at designated military-controlled banks, entities and activities should be put in place to restrict the military’s ability to finance its acts of terror against the people. Recent sanctions imposed by the US on Myanmar’s main portals of foreign currency payments, the state-owned Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) should set the example in this regard. A failure by Singapore to act would sustain the current crisis whereby MFTB and MICB facilitate foreign-currency exchange within Myanmar and enable transactions between the military junta and foreign markets to buy arms, dual-use goods, technology and jet fuel, and to undermine the effectiveness of the US sanctions on these entities.
While Singapore continues to call for immediate cessation of violence under ASEAN, Singapore-based businesses and the financial system’s involvement in the transfer of weapons and dual-use goods to the Myanmar military directly undermines ASEAN’s credibility. We the undersigned CSOs strongly urge Your Excellency to set a precedent for the region by taking robust and tangible actions to stop Singapore businesses and financial institutions from enabling and being complicit in the Myanmar junta’s ongoing atrocities. As ASEAN is conducting a review of implementation of the failed Five-Point Consensus, these meaningful steps of Singapore will assist ASEAN in reforming the current ineffective approach and replacing the Consensus with concrete actions to address the crisis effectively.
Sincerely,
A total of 200 organizations, including 4 groups that can't be named because of security reasons, have signed this letter.
1 8888 Generation (New Zealand)
2 ၈၈ငြိမ်ချမ်းရေးနှင့်ပွင့်လင်းလူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်းထားဝယ်ခရိုင်
3 Ah Nah Podcast - conversations with Myanmar
4 All Burma Democratic Face in New Zealand
5 Anti-Junta Mass Movement - AJMM
6 Associations of United Nationalities in Japan
7 Auckland Kachin Community NZ
8 Auckland Zomi Community
9 Aung San Suu Kyi Park Norway
10 Basic Education Students & Youths Association (BESYA)
11 Boycott Military's Pocket
12 Burma Campaign UK
13 Burmese Community Group (Manawatu, NZ)
14 Burmese Rohingya Welfare Organisation New Zealand
15 Burmese American Community Institute 9BACI)
16 Burmese Canadian Network
17 Campaign for a New Myanmar
18 CDM Support Team Mandalay (CSTM)
19 Chin Community of Auckland
20 Chin Community in Norway
21 Citizen of Burma Award - New Zealand
22 Citizens of Burma Award(Buffalo Chapter)
23 COBA UAE
24 CRPH and NUG Supporters Ireland
25 CRPH Funding Ireland
26 CRPH Support Group, Norway
27 CRPH Support Group, Norway and members organizations endorses
28 Democratic Party for a New Society, Norway
29 Democratic Youth Council ( ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်လူငယ်ကောင်စီ )
30 Doh Atu - Ensemble pour le Myanmar
31 Dream Hope Goals Media Group
32 Dunedin Myanmar Community New Zealand
33 Enemy Air Route Channel
34 Federal Myanmar Benevolence Group (NZ)
35 Federal School
36 Federation of Workers’ Union of the Burmese Citizen in Japan ( FWUBC )
37 Free Rohingya Coalition
38 General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN)
39 General Strike Coordination Body - GSCB
40 Global Myanmar Spring Revolution ( GMSR )
41 Hero Behind Bars
42 HTY Scout Channel
43 Human Right Defenders and Promoters(Palaw)
44 Information & Scout News (Hlaing)
45 Insein Scout Channel
46 Integria, z.s.
47 International Association, Myanmar-Switzerland (IAMS)
48 International Campaign for the Rohingya
49 Japan Myanmar Help Network - JMHN (comprising of over 40 youth groups in Japan)
50 Justice For Myanmar
51 K'cho Ethnic Association
52 Kachin Association Norway
53 Kachin State Civilian Movement- KSCM
54 Kamayut Scout Channel
55 Kanbauk Defense Force (KBDF)
56 Karenni Society New Zealand
57 Karenni Association - Norway
58 Karenni Wellington Community
59 Kyauktada Strike Committee
60 Kyimyindaing Scout Channel
61 La Communauté Birmane de France
62 LA2M
63 Lanmadaw,Latha & Pabedan Scout Channel
64 League for Democracy in Burma( Japan )
65 Legal Aid for Human Rights (Southern Shan State)
66 LGBTIQ (လိင်စိတ်ခံယူမှုကွဲပြားသူများ) သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
67 Mayangone News
68 MIIT ကျောင်းသားကျောင်းသူများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
69 Minority Affairs Institute (MAI Myanmar)
70 Muslim Youth Network
71 Myanmar Community Christchurch New Zealand
72 Myanmar Gonye (New Zealand)
73 Myanmar Action Group Denmark
74 Myanmar Catholic Community In Norway
75 Myanmar community in Italy
76 Myanmar Community in Norway
77 Myanmar Democratic Force in Denmark
78 Myanmar Engineers - New Zealand
79 Myanmar Global Support Foundation ( MGSF )
80 Myanmar Hindu Community - Norway
81 Myanmar Muslim Revolution Force
82 Myanmar Students' Union in New Zealand
83 Nelson Myanmar Community New Zealand
84 New Zealand Doctors for NUG
85 New Zealand Zo Community Inc.
86 New Zealand Karen Association
87 NLD Organization Committee (International) Norway
88 No Business With Genocide
89 NOK Information & Scout Echo
90 North Dagon & East Dagon News
91 Norway Falam Community
92 Norway Matu Community
93 Norway Rvwang Community
94 Overseas Mon Association. New Zealand
95 PDF Support ( Vancouver - Canada )
96 Peace for Burma ( Vancouver ) Canada
97 Progressive Muslim Youth Association-PMYA
98 Progressive Voice
99 Rangoon Scout Network
100 Rohingya Community in Norway
101 Rvwang Community Association New Zealand
102 Save Myanmar Fundraising Group (New Zealand)
103 Save Myanmar Israel
104 Shan Community (New Zealand)
105 Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation
106 South Dagon Scouting Infos (SDG)
107 Southern Dragon Myanmar
108 Support group for Democracy in Myanmar ( the Netherland )
109 Tamwe Nway Oo Channel
110 Tenasserim Students Unions Network - TSUN
111 Thaketa & Dawbon Scout Channel
112 Tourism Committee
113 U.S. Campaign for Burma
114 Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
115 United States Chin Coalition (USCC)
116 Universities Kachin Literature and Culture Association- Yangon (Yangon JLH)
117 Volunteers in Myanmar
118 We support NUG-NB
119 Wellington Chin Community ( New Zealand )
120 Wellington Myanmar community
121 Yangon Revolution Force - YRF (Soft Strike Community)
122 Youth for Democratization of Myanmar (UDM)
123 Youth Scout For Democracy (YSD)
124 YWTC(yangon)
125 Z Fighter News
126 Zomi Christian Fellowship of Norway
127 Zomi Community Norway
128 ကျန်းမာရေးမိသားစု - မန္တလေး (Medical Family – Mandalay)
129 ကွန်ပျူတာတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
130 ချမ်းမြသာစည်မြို့နယ် လူထုသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
131 စိန်ပန်း သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
132 ဆေးတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
133 ဆေးဘက်ဆိုင်ရာနည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများ သမဂ္ဂ
134 ဆေးဝါးတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
135 တမ္ပဝတီ လူထုသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
136 တိုက်ကွမ်ဒို အားကစားအသင်း
137 တိုင်းရင်းဆေးတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
138 တိုင်းရင်းသားလူငယ်များ အထွေထွေသပိတ်ကော်မတီ
139 တောင်သာလူထုလှုပ်ရှားမှုကော်မတီ
140 ဒေါင်းစစ်သည်
141 နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
142 နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ်(ရတနာပုံဆိုင်ဘာစီးတီး)ကျောင်းသားများ သမဂ္ဂ
143 နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးဘာသာပေါင်းစုံကွန်ရက်
144 နားထောင်ရင်းလှူပေးပါ။
145 ပညာရေးမိသားစု (စစ်အာဏာရှင်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး ပညာရေးစစ်ကြောင်းများ ချိတ်ဆက်ညှိနှိုင်းရေးကော်မတီ)
146 ပြည်ကြီးတံခွန်သပိတ်
147 ပုဂ္ဂလိက မူကြိုဆရာ၊ ဆရာမများအဖွဲ့
148 ဘာသာပေါင်းစုံ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
149 ဘုရားကြီး ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
150 မကွေးလူထုတိုက်ပွဲကော်မတီ / Magway People's Revolution Committee
151 မန္တလာတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသားကျောင်းသူများသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
152 မန္တလာတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
153 မန္တလေး ကဗျာဆရာများသမဂ္ဂ (Mandalay Poets’ Union)
154 မန္တလေး ကုန်စည်ဒိုင်သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
155 မန္တလေး၊ တက္ကသိုလ် ဒီဂရီ၊ ကောလိပ် ဆရာ၊ ဆရာမများ၊ ဝန်ထမ်းများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
156 မန္တလေးကွန်ပျူတာတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
157 မန္တလေးတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသား ကျောင်းသူဟောင်းများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
158 မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီးလွှတ်တော် ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ (Committee Representing Mandalay Region Hluttaw)
159 မန္တလေးနည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
160 မန္တလေးနိုင်ငံခြားဘာသာတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
161 မန္တလေးပုဂ္ဂလိကတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (MPUSU)
162 မန္တလေးမြို့အခြေစိုက် လူထုသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
163 မန္တလေးမဟာမိတ် သပိတ်တပ်ပေါင်းစုစစ်ကြောင်း
164 မန္တလေးလူငယ် သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
165 မန္တလေးသပိတ်အင်အားစု
166 မန္တလေးအင်ဂျင်နီယာ တပ်ပေါင်းစု
167 မန္တလေးအင်ဂျင်နီယာများအဖွဲ့ (Mandalay Engineer Group)
168 မန္တလေးအရပ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ
169 မြင်းခြံလူထုလှုပ်ရှားမှုကော်မတီ
170 မြတောင် သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
171 မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဘဏ်အလုပ်သမားသမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (Bank Trade Unions Federation of Myanmar – BTUFM)
172 မြန်မာ့မီးရထား တိုင်းအမှတ် (၃) CDM ဝန်ထမ်းများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
173 မြန်မာသတင်းအချက်အလက်နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး) ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
174 မွတ်စ်လင်မ်လူငယ်များအဖွဲ့
175 မဟာအောင်မြေမြို့နယ် စုပေါင်းလူထုသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
176 မေမြို့ ပင်မအထွေထွေသပိတ်အင်အားစု
177 ရတနာပုံတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (ရ.တ.က.သ)
178 ရန်ကုန်အခြေစိုက်တက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများ (တကသများ-ရန်ကုန်) | Alliance of Students’ Unions Yangon (ASU-Yangon)
179 ရေဘဝဲ (ပြည်သူ့အကျိုးပြု လူငယ်အဖွဲ့အစည်း)
180 လူငယ်ကဗျာဆရာများသမဂ္ဂ
181 သံဃသမဂ္ဂ (မန္တလေး)
182 သပြေညို သတင်းလွှာ
183 သမဝါယမတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသူ၊ ကျောင်းသားများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
184 သရက်ချောင်းမြို့နယ် ပြည်သူကာကွယ်ရေးပြောက်ကျားတပ်ဖွဲ့
185 သွားဘက်ဆိုင်ရာဆေးတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများ သမဂ္ဂ
186 သားဖွားသင်တန်းကျောင်း(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
187 သူနာပြုတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
188 သူနာပြုသင်တန်းကျောင်း(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
189 အ.ထ.က (၇) ကျောင်းသူ၊ ကျောင်းသားဟောင်းများ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
190 အ.လ.က (၁၂) ထခွဲ၊ အခြေခံပညာကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (အ.က.သ)
191 အဖမ်းဆီးခံပြည်သူများ ကိုယ်စားပြုသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
192 အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မန္တလေးတိုင်း)
193 အမျိုးသားယဉ်ကျေးမှုနှင့် အနုပညာတက္ကသိုလ်(မန္တလေး)ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ
194 အလုပ်သမားသမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်
195 အောင်ပင်လယ် ပင်မသပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း
196 အောင်မြေသာစံ ပညာရေးကျောင်းပေါင်းစုံ သပိတ်စစ်ကြောင်း..."
Source/publisher:
200 civil society organizations via Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-08-22
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title:
Experts say the move will do little to control illegal currency trading.
Description:
"Myanmar’s junta is threatening legal action against anyone found to be in possession of foreign currency without authorization in what observers said was a bid to kneecap black market exchangers after the kyat has tumbled to one-third of its value against the U.S. dollar since the coup.
On Aug. 18, US$1 spiked to 3,900 kyats, the highest in history and up 300% from 1,300 in January 2021, a month before the military seized power.
The Central Bank responded Monday with an announcement in pro-junta media that those in possession of foreign currencies without permission will face charges under the Foreign Currency Management Law.
The threat will do little to rein in the illegal currency exchange market, said an authorized foreign currency exchange business owner, who declined to be named citing security concerns.
"Based on this announcement, it looks like they are going to [try to] enforce their set exchange rate of 2,920 or even 2,100 in any way possible,” he told RFA Burmese. “But no one is going to sell their foreign currencies ... If they have bought at a price of 3,000, they will never sell at 2,000, as they have invested millions of kyats."
Under the Foreign Exchange Management Law, domestic residents are allowed to keep a maximum of US$10,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency for as long as six months from the date of receipt. After six months, the holder must sell the currencies to authorized exchangers or deposit it in a bank.
The law also states that exchanging and selling foreign currency without a business license is punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, and the confiscation of related assets.
A domestic banking expert, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the only way the junta can control the rising dollar in Myanmar is to “regularly meet the demand for U.S. dollars and adjust the exchange rate according to external market conditions.”
“The U.S. dollar exchange rate is going to rise as its demand is much higher than its supply,” he said. “There is no way to stop it. You can't stop it by issuing orders, nor by threats of arrest.”
He noted that authorities have recently been buying U.S. dollars from people’s foreign currency accounts at the Central Bank’s exchange rate.
On Saturday, junta Chairman of the Central Bank Than Than Swe told a meeting between Central Bank officials and local business owners in the capital Naypyidaw that “action will be taken” against illegal money exchangers and “those who write on the internet to inflate the value of the U.S. dollar.”
U.S. dollar ‘only safe asset’
An economist monitoring gold and currency markets in Yangon told RFA that the Central Bank is using a “scare tactic” to control the value of the kyat, and warned that even if it works, it would only result in a “short-term solution.”
“The real problem is the financial crisis,” he said, referring to junta mismanagement that has sent the economy into a nosedive. “Those who have money buy US dollars, which they consider [one of the only] safe assets … It’s impossible to try to change the situation by issuing orders.”
Attempts by RFA to contact the Central Bank's Foreign Exchange Management Department by telephone rang unanswered on Monday.
The junta’s store of U.S. dollars has been hit by U.S. Treasury Department sanctions, as well as a decision by Bangladesh's Sonali Bank last week to freeze the accounts of two junta-controlled banks with more than US$1.1 million after the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka sent a letter to the government requesting that Bangladesh comply with such sanctions
The U.S. Treasury said the two banks – Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank – “facilitate much of the foreign currency exchange within Burma and enable transactions between the military regime and foreign markets, including for the purchase and import of arms and related material.”
Junta Chairman Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing accused “some countries” of “using the dollar as a weapon” during remarks he made on Aug. 15 at the 11th International Security Conference in Russia.
The junta’s Central Bank revoked 43 foreign currency exchange licenses this year on the pretext that they did not comply with the Foreign Exchange Management Law..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-08-21
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Burma's economic relations with the region
Language:
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Description:
"On June 21, 2023, the United States designated two of Burma’s military regime-controlled banks, Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). MFTB and MICB have been instrumental in facilitating the regime’s use of foreign currency to procure arms and jet fuel abroad and to access international markets using offshore accounts.
Through these offshore accounts, MFTB and MICB have facilitated the regime’s profiteering from Burma’s extractive industries, including oil and gas, teak, gemstones, and other natural resources. The designations of MFTB and MICB impose a significant impact on the regime’s ability to fund the violence it inflicts on the people of Burma.
At the time of the designation of these two banks, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 5 (GL 5) to allow entities engaging in transactions with MFTB and MICB to wind these down in an orderly fashion. Following the expiration of GL 5 on August 5 at 12:01 a.m. (EST), the United States will continue to carefully monitor compliance and scrutinize transactions with an MFTB or MICB nexus to counter evasion or other behavior that contravenes the intent of these designations and U.S. policy. We will pursue enforcement actions as appropriate.
The United States will not waver in its support for the people of Burma as they seek peace, justice, and an inclusive, democratic future for their country. We will continue to engage with our partners and allies in the broader international community to constrain the regime’s ability to exploit the international financial system..."
Source/publisher:
U.S. Department of State
Date of publication:
2023-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021, has made repeated promises about a return to civilian rule and limited democracy — so far unkept. The former leader, 78-year-old Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, could spend the rest of her life in jail, despite a partial pardon in August. The military, known as the Tatmadaw, has used increasingly brutal tactics to subdue its enemies, including the first executions in three decades. By its own admission, nearly half the country is facing instability due to armed conflict. Prospects for economic growth are “severely weakened,” according to the World Bank. The US and its allies this year imposed new sanctions aimed at military officials and “affiliated cronies.” But the junta retains control of vast interests, including lucrative natural gas exports, and has found backers outside the West.
1. What’s happened with Aung San Suu Kyi?
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She and Win Myint, who served as president in the last civilian government, were found guilty soon after the coup of inciting dissent against the military and flouting Covid restrictions while campaigning for the November 2020 elections. Since then she’s been convicted in a series of trials on charges including corruptions and violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, and sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison. Her legal defense team described all the allegations against her as groundless and politically motivated. On Aug. 1, the junta pardoned both on some charges, including breaking pandemic-era rules, illegal possession of walkie-talkies and incitement. But they remained in prison.
2. Why was there a coup?
Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 83% of the parliamentary seats at stake in the 2020 vote — an even better performance than its 2015 landslide. The election commission and international observers called the election fair. But the military alleged that there had been voter fraud. On the day of the coup, the military said it was necessary to act before the new parliament session began later that week. More broadly, the military operates almost as a state within a state in Myanmar, and its allies still control vast swaths of the economy. The scale of Suu Kyi’s victory may have prompted fears among the generals of new efforts to chip away at their privileges, especially after the exceptionally poor electoral performance of a military-backed party.
3. Are new elections planned?
Yes, but the NLD said in March it would boycott. The military government then dissolved the party after it failed to register in time under a new law. Back in 2021, the military set an August 2023 deadline for elections and said army chief Min Aung Hlaing would head a caretaker government in the meantime. That deadline was extended on July 31 for another six months, until Jan. 31, 2024, as fighting intensified with ethnic armed groups and supporters of Suu Kyi. The planned election has been dismissed as a “sham” by the United Nations and the US.
4. What is the fighting in Myanmar about?
Violence flared after the coup as Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters demanded her release and the restoration of the elected government. Junta forces have killed 3,857 people as of July 31 and detained many more, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a human rights group. According to the UN’s Human Rights Council, ill-treatment and torture have resulted in deaths in detention. Some Aung San Suu Kyi supporters have formed what they call the National Unity Government, with armed units known as the People’s Defence Force. They’ve allied with ethnic insurgent groups that have long battled the military over the right to manage their territories and resources. In extending the state of emergency, the junta leader said 40% of townships are facing instability, an admission of the intensity of the conflict. International experts have said the military has effective control over far less territory than it claims to.
5. What’s the fallout been?
The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December demanding an end to violence in Myanmar and the release of political prisoners. Its passage was a milestone, but China, Russia and India abstained, limiting the impact. The US, the UK, Canada and Australia reimposed economic sanctions in 2021, just five years after many had been lifted, although it’s unclear how much impact they will have. The US has since extended its sanctions, including in January. But China, Myanmar’s most important trading partner, has rejected calls at the UN for an arms embargo and has affirmed support for the regime. Japan and India worry that tough measures against the junta only risk increasing China’s influence there. The junta has drawn closer to Russia despite the war in Ukraine — Min Aung Hlaing has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin “as a leader of the world.” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, Myanmar’s biggest foreign investor, has said sanctions would only hurt Myanmar’s people. The World Bank this year said Myanmar’s potential for inclusive growth has been “severely weakened” and “there is little appetite to invest.”
6. What’s the history?
After World War II, Burma, as it was then known, emerged from British colonial rule and plunged directly into civil conflict. Ethnic minorities make up a third of the population of 55 million and occupy half the land, including areas where valuable resources such as jade, gold and teak are found. A deal providing them with greater autonomy fell apart after Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San, who was slated to become the country’s first leader, was gunned down in 1947. A coup led by army chief Ne Win in 1962 started a half-century of military rule, during which the country descended into desperate poverty. Troops viciously suppressed pro-democracy protests in 1988. Two years later the army annulled an election that Aung San Suu Kyi’s party had won by a landslide. Under house arrest for much of the next 20 years, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
7. How did she get into government?
The junta began a transition to civilian rule with a new constitution in 2008 that reserved 25% of parliamentary seats for the military — enough to block any amendments to it. Still, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party took part in by-elections in 2012 after the government at the time agreed to the release of political prisoners, the freedom to assemble and an opening to foreign investors. Her party then swept to victory in the first full elections in 2015, defeating the ruling party by a margin of nearly 10-to-1. The constitution bars Aung San Suu Kyi from serving as president because her children are UK citizens. Thus, in 2016 she became state counselor, a newly created role akin to prime minister, as well as foreign minister.
8. How did she do?
Her administration liberalized banking, insurance and education and curbed inflation. But about a third of the population was living in poverty and businesses remained mired in red tape. The military continued to control the defense, home affairs and border affairs ministries. Its forces have been accused by UN investigators of practicing “ethnic cleansing” and “crimes against humanity” with “genocidal intent” in driving more than 700,000 Rohingya people over the border to Bangladesh since 2017. (Among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, prejudice against the Rohingya — Muslims castigated as illegal immigrants and stripped of citizenship — remains fierce and widespread.) Amid the opprobrium, foreign direct investment fell to $2.3 billion in 2019 from $4.7 billion in 2017. The military turned on Aung San Suu Kyi even though she defended them in 2019 at the International Court of Justice against the genocide allegations — increasing her popularity at home at the expense of her international reputation.
Source/publisher:
"Bloomberg News" (New York) via "The Washington Post"
Date of publication:
2023-08-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"The German state prosecutor in Augsburg has launched a criminal investigation into MAN Energy Solutions, which supplied key components to the UMS Moattama warship, allegedly in violation of Germany’s Foreign Trade Law and European Union Dual Use Regulations. This follows a criminal complaint filed by Greenpeace Germany with the attorney Holger Rothbauer, using evidence and research provided by Justice For Myanmar. The opening of the investigation was first reported by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The UMS Moattama is a landing platform dock/amphibious assault ship, boosting the Myanmar Navy’s capabilities to move troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other arms and equipment to support its ongoing campaign of terror against the people.
Since the military’s illegal coup attempt, the UMS Moattama has reportedly been used to transport troops, rocket systems and heavy artillery to Rakhine State, where the military continues to commit atrocities. The Moattama is also used in the junta’s Sea Shield military exercises.
The UMS Moattama was built in South Korea and transferred to the Myanmar military in 2019, in the aftermath of its genocide against the Rohingya which involved the Myanmar Navy.
MAN Energy Solutions SE, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, supplied the ship’s main engine, power consumers, propellor and propellor control system, control and propellor equipment, and also gave training to Myanmar Navy personnel in South Korea, apparently involving its subsidiary in Denmark.
MAN Energy Solutions is just one of a number of German companies that supplied equipment and technology for the UMS Moattama. Other German companies include:
Raytheon Anschütz GmbH, which has recently restructured, supplied radar equipment, a gyro compass system, and the autopilot and steering control system,
Reintjes GmbH supplied the gearbox with parts from other German companies including Kracht GmbH,
Alfons Haar Maschinenbau GmbH & Co KG supplied the helicopter refuelling system,
Cassens & Plath GmbH supplied the magnetic compass system,
RHOTHETA Elektronik GmbH supplied the direction finder,
GEA Westfalia Separator Group GmbH provided separators with parts from other German companies including Boll & Kirch Filterbau GmbH,
DSB Deutsche Schlauchboot GmbH of Survitec Group provided rescue boats.
Justice For Myanmar calls on German authorities to also open criminal investigations into the remaining companies that supplied equipment and technology to the Myanmar Navy warship.
The action taken by German authorities was based on evidence from the Myanmar Navy Chief Petty Officer Myat Min Thu, a whistle-blower who is part of the Civil Disobedience Movement and who was a recipient of training by MAN in South Korea and served on the ship until 2021.
In 2021, South Korean police launched a police investigation into the illegal transfer of the Moattama to the Myanmar military, targeting Daesun Shipbuilding & Engineering, which built the ship; Posco International, which brokered the transfer; and Korea’s Ministry of Defence. The investigation remains ongoing.
In November 2020, Justice For Myanmar, Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Rohingya and Korean Transnational Corporation Watch filed complaints with the OECD National Contact Point in Korea and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea against Daesun Shipbuilding & Engineering, Posco International and other businesses supporting the Myanmar military.
The complaint led to scrutiny of the warship export and the police investigation. The police investigation was later supported through the cooperation of Myat Min Thu.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the action taken by the German public prosecutor in Augsburg in response to the criminal complaint by Greenpeace Germany.
“The Myanmar Navy is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya and continues to enforce the junta’s policy of apartheid, arbitrarily detaining Rohingya men, women and children who attempt to flee. The military and all those complicit in its international crimes are yet to be held accountable.
“The UMS Moattama, equipped with German technology, supports the Myanmar military’s capabilities to move troops and arms across coastal areas as it wages a campaign of terror against the people.
“Prosecution is an important step towards accountability for the transfer of arms and dual use goods to the Myanmar military, and to prevent future arms transfers from Germany and the European Union, but they need to be widened to all companies involved in the Moattama project.
“Both Germany and the EU have laws in place to prevent the transfer of arms and dual use goods to the genocidal Myanmar military, but governments have repeatedly failed to enforce them, enabling the military to gain access to equipment and technology that supports ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Germany must show that breaches of the law will not be tolerated, and we call on other EU member states whose companies have illegally transferred arms, equipment and technology to investigate and hold them accountable.
“We urge Danish authorities to swiftly investigate and take action against MAN’s Danish subsidiary for its role in the Myanmar Navy’s UMS Moattama project.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar
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Format :
pdf pdf
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174.8 KB 133.05 KB
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"Mr. HAYASHI Nobumitsu, Governor of Japan Bank for International Cooperation
Mr. TAKESADA Tatsuhiko, President & CEO of Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development
CC:
Mr. SUZUKI Shunichi, Minister of Finance
Mr. SAITO Tetsuo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Sent by:
Justice For Myanmar
Mekong Watch
FoE Japan
Human Rights Now
Human Rights Watch
Japan International Volunteer Center
On June 21, 2023, the US government announced that it was imposing financial sanctions on the Myanmar junta's Ministry of Defence as a “Specially Designated National,” noting that the Ministry was “responsible for the command and control of the armed forces, which has conducted decades of repressive military rule that was violently resumed following the coup in 2021.”[1] With this designation, the connection between the Redevelopment of the Defense Services Museum Project (commonly known as the “Y Complex Project”), one of the projects being implemented using Japanese public funds, and the ongoing abuses by the Myanmar military junta, has been made even more obvious.
Y Complex involves building and operating a large-scale real estate complex at the site of the former military museum in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. The project receives public and private funds from Japan through Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN), a government-funded infrastructure investment corporation under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) which is Japan’s public export credit agency. JOIN and JBIC invests or lends to the Y Complex project in which the Myanmar military-controlled Ministry of Defence participates,[2] and they have continued their involvement even after the attempted coup by the Myanmar military on February 1, 2021.
Tokyo Tatemono, Fujita Corporation (a subsidiary of Daiwa House Industry), and JOIN set up a Joint Special Purpose Company (J-SPC) in Singapore. JBIC along with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank co-financed a loan to this J-SPC, and the J-SPC in turn is co-investing in Y Complex Company Ltd., a Myanmar corporation set up jointly by the J-SPC and Yangon Technical and Trading Company Limited (YTT), a Myanmar military crony-owned company.
The land lease agreement is between YTT and "Colonel Aung Min Thein (Officer No. Army 17642), Vice Quarter Master General, Office of the Quarter Master General, Commander-in-Chief (Army).” Land lease payments are to be made to "Defence Account no. MD 010424,” an account likely to be under control of the Office of the Quartermaster General[3]. On December 10, 2021, the US, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on the Office of the Quartermaster General.[4] The UK government has pointed out that the Office of the Quartermaster General "plays a crucial role in procuring equipment for the Myanmar Armed Forces, including ammunition, bombs and jet fuel.”[5]More recently, the EU imposed sanctions on Kyaw Swar Lin, the Quartermaster General, on July 20, 2023, noting that he is a “person whose policies and activities undermine democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma, and who provides support for actions that threaten the peace, security and stability of Myanmar/Burma.”[6]
We understand that making land lease payments in the Y Complex project is equivalent to providing funds to the Myanmar military through the Office of the Quartermaster General, and have alluded to this problem since before the attempted coup.[7]
So far, JOIN and JBIC have explained that because the Office of the Quartermaster General is within the Ministry of Defence and therefore a part of the government of Myanmar, land lease payments would not benefit the Myanmar military (see below).
Response by Tatsuhiko Takesada, President & CEO of JOIN at the meeting of the Committee on Financial Affairs of the House of Representatives, April 20, 2021: "Regarding the contract for the project site, J-SPC is not directly involved, but under the contract, the local Myanmar company signed a land lease agreement with the Ministry of Defence which is a part of the government to obtain land use rights, and the said local [Myanmar] company subleases the land to the local project company. We have confirmed the current situation, but regarding the land lease payments, we understand that they were appropriately managed within the government."[8]
Statement by JBIC official in charge of the Y Complex Project at the "Ministry of Finance - NGO Regular Dialogue," March 5, 2021: “JBIC recognizes that in this project the rent is paid to the Office of the Quartermaster General in the Ministry of Defence. We understand that the rent payments are included as revenue in the general budget of the Myanmar government…. In Myanmar, based on a law called the Budget Law, so-called general accounts budget is publicly disclosed, and the Ministry of Defence is included as part of that."[9]
These statements show that both JOIN and JBIC recognized that the rent payments should not be benefiting the military and that they were attempting to maintain an appearance that the rent payments were not going to the military by publicly presenting their view that the ultimate destination of the rent payments was the Ministry of Defence and not the military. The recent imposition of sanctions by the US on the Ministry of Defence, has made these excuses even more untenable.[10]
Regardless of whether the ultimate destination of the land lease payments for the Y Complex Project is the Office of the Quartermaster General or the linked Ministry of Defence, these payments enable the Myanmar military to continue to commit atrocity crimes across the country. According to the UN, there are currently 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar. [11] The Japanese government and Japanese companies should fulfill their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by immediately stopping their involvement in the Y Complex Project. To do so, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism should withdraw the investment made by JOIN, and the Ministry of Finance should cancel the loan made by JBIC to stop the injection of public funds into the project and publicly announce that they have made the decision to do so..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-25
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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177.17 KB 174.92 KB 203.32 KB
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"Burma Campaign UK today welcomed new EU sanctions on No2 Mining Enterprise and 6 individuals announced yesterday, but criticised the incredibly slow pace of the introduction of new sanctions.
The EU has the right policy of sanctioning on an ongoing basis sources of revenue and arms and individuals linked to human rights violations, but EU member states are not prioritising the implementation of their own policy.
“At this pace, it will be decades before the EU gets round to sanctioning those committing human rights violations and most sources of revenue and arms to the military,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Why has it taken two and a half years to sanction such an obvious source of revenue like a mining enterprise which receives revenue from rare earths?”
There is no ‘silver bullet’ sanction which will by itself have a major impact on reducing revenue to the Burmese military. It is, therefore, essential that the EU, UK USA, Canada and others maximise the breadth of targeted sanctions to chip away at sources of revenue and arms. It is the cumulative impact of such sanctions which will maximise their effectiveness.
“If you set out to try to minimise the impact of sanctions, this is the way you would do it, uncoordinated sanctions implemented at an incredibly slow speed with gaps of months in between, giving the military time to try to find workarounds before the next random sanction,” said Anna Roberts. “Since the USA organised a sanctions coordination meeting there has been less coordination and the UK is missing in action.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Today, the Council imposed a seventh round of restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma against six individuals and one entity in response to the continuing escalation of violence, grave human rights violations and threats to the peace, security and stability in Myanmar/Burma.
The listings include three Union Ministers for immigration and population, labour and health and sports, two members of the State Administration Council (SAC), the Quartermaster General, as well as No. 2 Mining Enterprise (ME 2), a state-owned enterprise that is controlled by and generates revenue for the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw).
Restrictive measures currently apply to a total of 99 individuals and 19 entities. Those designated are subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territory. In addition, EU persons and entities are prohibited to make funds available to those listed.
Other EU restrictive measure remain in place: the embargo on arms and equipment and export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications which might be used for internal repression, the export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police, and the prohibition of military training and cooperation with the Tatmadaw.
The restrictive measures come in addition to the withholding of EU financial assistance directly going to the government and the freezing of all EU assistance that may be seen as legitimising the junta.
The EU remains deeply concerned by the continuing escalation of violence and the evolution towards a protracted conflict with regional implications. The Union condemns the continuing grave human rights violations including torture, sexual and gender-based violence, the persecution of civil society, human rights defenders and journalists, indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population, including a deadly airstrike killing at least 171 persons on 10 April 2023, by the Myanmar armed forces. The dissolution of 40 political parties on 28 March 2023 was another demonstration of the blatant disrespect by the military regime for democracy and the rights and wishes of the Myanmar population.
All hostilities must stop immediately. The military authorities must fully respect international humanitarian law and put an end to the indiscriminate use of force.
The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Background
In February 2021, the Council adopted conclusions condemning in the strongest terms the military coup carried out in Myanmar/Burma.
On 31 January 2023, the High Representative issued a declaration on behalf of the EU on the 2nd anniversary of the military take-over stating that, in the absence of any swift progress on the situation in Myanmar, the EU stood ready to adopt further restrictive measures against those directly responsible for and those abetting the undermining of democracy and the serious human rights violations in the country.
The Council has imposed restrictive measures against those responsible for the military coup staged in Myanmar/Burma on 1 February 2021, and the subsequent military and police repression against peaceful demonstrators on 22 March, 19 April and 21 June 2021, 21 February and 8 November 2022, and 20 February 2023..."
Source/publisher:
Council of the European Union
Date of publication:
2023-07-20
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, European Union-Burma relations -- official links and documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Monsieur Le Président de la République
Emmanuel Macron
Palais de l’Elysée
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris
July 10, 2023
Subject: Seeking French support to stop Indian arms sales to Myanmar junta
Dear President Macron,
We are writing this open letter to you from Justice For Myanmar, a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation, and reporting to expose and dismantle the business networks that fuel the Myanmar military’s international crimes, brutality and corruption.
We request that you raise concerns regarding the sale of arms, dual use goods and technology from India to the Myanmar junta with Prime Minister Modi during his upcoming visit to France. We also request that you require India to ban further exports of arms, dual use goods and technology to the junta as a condition on the export of French arms and technology to India.
After Russia and China, India is the third biggest supplier of arms to the Myanmar military. The flow of arms and dual use goods and technology from India to Myanmar has continued following the military’s illegal coup attempt of February 1, 2021, notably including from Indian state-owned companies.
Since the military’s coup attempt, India’s majority state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a joint venture partner of Thalès, transferred multiple items to the Myanmar military, including:
A coastal surveillance system;
A remote-controlled weapon station;
Slip rings that can be used in any electromechanical system that requires rotation while transmitting power or signals, such as for shipborne radar turntables, rotating turrets on military armoured vehicles, airborne radar turntables or guidance systems;
Mounting base plates (true north) with the harmonised system (HS) code 8529.90, confirming that the item is a part for use with radio transmission or radar equipment;
A sonar transducer and associated main equipment (specified to be wet end) for likely use in a junta submarine;
A directing gear system that would support transducer arrays of hull mounted ship sonar systems, such as those developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation;
An underwater telephony system, coupled with three sets of unspecified technical documents and test equipment;
An expendable bathy thermograph, which can be launched from a ship or submarine to measure the temperature as it falls through the water;
MHS-355 and 20W HF SSB manpack radios.
In the same period, items supplied by other Indian companies to the Myanmar military include:
3,000 fuzes supplied by Sandeep Metalcraft, a private arms manufacturer;
Spare parts and an alarm monitoring and control system supplied by Larsen & Toubro;
122mm gun barrels supplied by Yantra India Limited, a state-owned arms manufacturer;
Motors, timing belts and laboratory items from Jainkoch Corporation.
The Myanmar military junta is a terrorist organisation under Myanmar law and as defined in international law. Since the attempted coup, the junta has killed more than 3,700 people and arrested over 23,700 more. It has conducted deliberate armed attacks on people across Myanmar including children and launches regular indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling as part of a campaign of terror. These actions constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, for which the military has yet to be held accountable. While the military junta is directly responsible for these attacks, they have been enabled by the continued supply of arms, equipment and technology from international suppliers such as India, and the insufficient level of action taken by the international community to prevent this support from continuing.
We note that in November 2022, H.E. Mr Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for the Armed Forces of France, paid his first official visit to India to hold the Indo-French Annual Defence Dialogue and to strengthen Indo-French strategic ties. The Armed Forces Minister’s visit to India reaffirms France’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific and India’s centrality in the French strategy for the region and came in a year that has seen an acceleration of the French and Indian armed forces’ endeavours towards greater interoperability through joint air, navy, and army exercises. Minister Lecornu also held wide-ranging talks with his counterpart, Rajnath Singh, covering industrial and technological partnerships in line with the Make in India policy, under which the Indian government has brought in reforms to encourage design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in India. Without adequate safeguards in place, France may find itself indirectly supporting the Indian government’s exports of arms and dual use goods and technology to Myanmar as a result of its defence cooperation with India, including through links to India’s domestic production of arms.
India, like France, is a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement. Under this arrangement, India is expected to apply export controls on transfers of arms and dual-use goods and technologies. India also has obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law to not transfer weapons when there is an expectation that these weapons could be used in violation of the Geneva Conventions, or to aid and abet atrocity crimes. The fact that that Indian companies have continued to supply weapons, dual use goods and technology after the attempted coup in Myanmar shows a serious disregard by the Indian government for its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, and its commitments under the Wassenaar Arrangement.
In a May 2023 report on the junta’s procurement of arms and equipment, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar found that India’s supply of materials used in surveillance technology and artillery, as well as likely for missiles, contravenes its obligations under international law. He noted,
“India has the requisite knowledge that the Myanmar military is committing probable war crimes given the substantial international reporting on this subject. India should therefore be aware that the arms it provides to the Myanmar military – though relatively limited – are likely to be used in the commission of international crimes.”
Our request for France to take action on Indian arms sales to Myanmar is consistent with the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar in his reports on arms, and UN General Assembly resolution A/75/L.85, which “calls upon all member States to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.”
We further note that in your joint statement regarding the official visit of Prime Minister Modi, it is stated, “France and India have a shared vision on peace and security, especially in Europe and the Indo-Pacific and uphold the objectives and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which are also the basis of our cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region”. The UN Charter states that the first purpose of the United Nations is “to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace”.
Your action in support of the human rights and democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar is in line with this commitment, as well as the French values of liberty, equality and fraternity.
We look forward to your response..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-10
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
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113.69 KB
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"More than two years after the attempted military coup in Myanmar, and two years after financial institutions’ investments in Myanmar’s military cartel were first exposed in a Justice For Myanmar and BankTrack briefing, five major French banks and a pension fund continue to invest in twenty-two companies linked to the Myanmar military junta, a report published today by Info Birmanie, BankTrack and Justice for Myanmar found. The junta is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report, which is endorsed by ALTSEAN-Burma, FIDH and Reporters without Borders, reveals that these investments by Crédit Agricole, La Banque Postale, the BPCE group, BNP Paribas, Société Générale and the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) amount to over US$6 billion, 75% of which is in the fossil fuel sector. Investments were also made in companies that sell arms to the junta and in companies operating in the telecommunications sector that enables the junta’s surveillance. With US$4 billion, Crédit Agricole accounts for most of the investments.
The companies in which these six financial institutions are shareholders have been divided into two categories: those with a direct and long-standing relationship with the Myanmar military or with companies controlled by the Myanmar military before the coup (category 1), and those with a direct business relationship with state-owned companies under military control following the coup of February 1, 2021 (category 2).
The report highlights the connection of these investments to fueling widespread and systematic human rights violations in Myanmar, including the imprisonment of 70 journalists and other severe restrictions on press freedom.
It reveals that Crédit Agricole is investing in India’s state-owned company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) that has been implicated in the sale of military equipment to the Myanmar junta since the 2021 coup attempt. BEL is also a leading partner of the Thalès Group.
The findings are published while France is preparing to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a guest of honour at the July 14th Bastille Day parade in Paris, as part of the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the France-India partnership.
French investments and the partnership between India and France in the field of defence should be rigorously scrutinised in the light of these findings, to prevent French institutions from helping to finance the flow of arms and technology to the junta.
Crédit Agricole also invests in Sinotruk Hong Kong Ltd, a company scrutinised in a recent report from Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, for transferring equipment to the Military junta since the coup attempt.
Crédit Agricole, Groupe BPCE, BNP Paribas, Banque Postale and Fonds de Réserve pour les retraites also hold shares in the Japanese company KDDI and its partner Sumitomo Corporation. These companies in the telecommunications sector continue to do business with the military junta through their joint operations with Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), supporting the junta’s surveillance capabilities.
The report calls on the five banks and the pension fund to comply with their obligations under France’s 2017 Duty of Care Law and international standards on business and human rights. The report authors urge the financial institutions to divest immediately and responsibly from companies listed in category 1 and to sell their shares in category 2 companies if they do not cease their support for the junta. France must ensure that the Pension Reserve Fund does not invest in companies linked to the Myanmar military.
The data published in the report highlights the need for France to give the Duty of Care Law its full practical scope with regard to companies in the financial sector and the importance of the negotiations underway at European level to adopt a directive on corporate due diligence. Several countries, including France, have been reported to lobby for a restricted scope of application for the text under negotiation, excluding the financial sector. Continued vigilance and scrutiny of the ongoing negotiations is needed until the final text includes the financial sector.
Info Birmanie's coordinator highlights that "it is urgent to see Crédit Agricole divest from Indian arms manufacturer Bharat Electronics Limited, which Norges Bank Investment Management, a Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, in particular, divested from because of its arms sales to the Myanmar junta."
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar spokesperson says: “It is unacceptable that French banks and a pension fund continue to invest in companies with known ties to the Myanmar military junta that is committing atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar with impunity. These banks must act now to ensure they are in no way supporting the junta. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, we urge France to take a firm stance against the flow of arms to the junta, including from India, and push for a global arms embargo.”
Henrieke Butijn, Climate campaigner & researcher at BankTrack adds : “It is outrageous that these banks have still not taken adequate action to assess and cut ties with companies linked to the Myanmar junta, even after their investments were exposed two years ago. That is two years in which the junta has been able to use the revenues from fossil fuels and the products from companies like Bharat Electronics to terrorise the population. By failing to act on their investments, these five French financiers are not only in breach of the OECD Guidelines and UNGPs, they are also betraying the people of Myanmar."..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-06
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
219.59 KB 330.75 KB 232.83 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Justice For Myanmar welcomes the latest round of US sanctions targeting Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB), Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) and the junta’s Ministry of Defence.
MFTB and MICB are state-owned banks that the Myanmar military illegally seized through its coup attempt.
The banks are key nodes in the military cartel’s economic networks, supporting the junta’s campaign of terror.
The junta’s Ministry of Defence plays a financial role for the Myanmar military as a whole and its procurement of arms and related materiel that are needed for the junta’s ongoing commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
While these sanctions are positive, Justice For Myanmar urges the US and its allies to urgently impose sanctions on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is responsible for the junta’s largest source of foreign revenue, and to coordinate sanctions that target whole networks of crony companies and arms brokers, so as to systematically cut the junta’s access to funds and arms.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the latest round of US sanctions targeting junta-controlled banks that help sustain the junta’s campaign of terror.
“However, for sanctions to be effective, far more needs to be done to systematically target the junta’s financial and arms procurement networks by the US and its allies.
“Justice For Myanmar calls for urgent sanctions against Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, which continues to bankroll the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as the junta’s network of cronies and arms brokers.
“These sanctions are a result of the courageous resistance of the people of Myanmar to the military’s failing coup attempt, and the efforts of activists around the world supporting the Myanmar people’s struggle for democracy.
“The international community needs to hear to the voices of Myanmar and take decisive action to further cut the junta’s access to funds and arms. The cartel must be dismantled.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-06-21
Date of entry/update:
2023-06-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
123.24 KB 111.8 KB
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Description:
"Justice For Myanmar calls on India’s Quad partners and other allies to use their leverage to pressure India to stop the supply of arms and dual use goods and technology to the Myanmar military junta.
A Justice For Myanmar investigation of Indian export records has revealed over US$5 million in new exports to the Myanmar military and its arms brokers from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in the six months from November 2022 to April 2023.
The shipments consisted of military end-use goods, technology and technical documents to be used by the Myanmar military.
Items included metallic sonar domes, transducers and gaskets for the domes to be used on frigates, warships or submarines; directing gear systems; various items for radio transmission or radar equipment; and manpack radios for battlefield communications.
BEL, which maintains a branch office in Myanmar, transferred the equipment knowing that the Myanmar military is the end user, and that it is committing ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity.
Through its campaign of terror against the people, the Myanmar military junta has so far murdered over 3,600, arbitrarily arrested 23,300 more, committed indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, torture, sexual violence and displaced at least 1.5 million.
The shipments may aid and abet the junta’s international crimes and are a continuation of India’s flagrant disregard for its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law and its commitments under the Wassenaar Arrangement.
India and the Myanmar military have long-standing ties. In his speech on 25 December 2022, war criminal and junta head Min Aung Hlaing stated a need for large warships with high combat capabilities and the training of navy officers to operate them, noting that naval officers had been sent to other countries, including India, to enhance their individual capabilities.
The USA and France, which are honouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi in state visits this year, have a particular responsibility to address India’s support for the junta, and to push for India to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar.
BEL’s exports to Myanmar during the six-month period were spread across seven shipments, with three being sent to the Myanmar military directly, three sent to the arms brokers Mega Hill General Trading, and one sent to Alliance Engineering Services.
Alliance Engineering Services is connected to the family of the junta’s former air force chief Maung Maung Kyaw.
Mega Hill General Trading is a private Myanmar military contractor that has a history of procuring technology and providing services to the army’s Directorate of Procurement, including a remote-controlled weapon station supplied by BEL in 2021 and exposed by Justice For Myanmar.
Justice For Myanmar also exposed BEL’s supply of a coastal surveillance system to the Myanmar military before and after its illegal coup attempt.
Justice For Myanmar calls for urgent targeted sanctions against Mega Hill General Trading, Alliance Engineering Services, their associated business, directors and shareholders.
BEL is 51.14% owned by the Indian government and is publicly listed. Other shareholders include Nippon Life India Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, Vanguard, BlackRock, Fidelity, Canada Pension Plan, California Public Employees' Retirement System, California State Teachers Retirement System, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and the Swedish pension funds, AP-fonden (AP1), Andra AP-fonden (AP2) and Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7).
BEL’s institutional shareholders should divest from the company because of its continued supply of dual use goods and technology to the Myanmar military, in line with their international human rights responsibilities.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “The Indian government and its state-owned arms companies are continuing business as usual in Myanmar, equipping and profiting from the junta as it commits acts of terror against the people.
“These new and significant exports to Myanmar from Bharat Electronics Limited make India further complicit in the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“By selling arms and equipment to the junta, India is choosing to ignore the voices of the Myanmar people, the legitimate National Unity Government, civil society, UN resolutions and its responsibilities under international law.
“It is crucial that India’s Quad partners and other allies step up and start using their leverage to stop India’s abhorrent support for the junta.
“The Biden administration is this week honouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a state visit to the White House.
“We urge President Biden and his government to push Prime Minister Modi to immediately stop all shipments of arms and dual use goods and technology to the Myanmar junta.
“The US should impose conditions on military aid to India to help end Indian support for the junta.
“President Macron should raise India’s complicity in the junta’s international crimes when Modi makes a state visit to Paris in July, and push India to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-06-21
Date of entry/update:
2023-06-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc)
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
148.05 KB 133.63 KB
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Description:
"A Justice For Myanmar investigation has uncovered new details of Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Industries’ project with the Myanmar military to locally assemble and produce DART-450 aircraft, in an apparent breach of the EU arms embargo.
The DART-450 are training and reconnaissance planes that would provide the military with support to train Myanmar Air Force pilots, who are essential to the junta’s large-scale indiscriminate airstrikes, part of its campaign of terror against the people. The aircraft would also provide the military with aerial surveillance capabilities.
Through a transfer of technology deal, Diamond Aircraft Industries supplied the Myanmar military with composites and parts, as well as technical assistance in Myanmar and the training of military personnel in Austria to assemble aircraft and manufacture key parts.
Diamond Aircraft Industries is an Austrian based aircraft manufacturer owned by the Chinese corporation, Wanfeng Aviation Industry via a UK holding company. Wanfeng Aviation Industry’s ultimate owner is the Shenzhen-listed Zhejiang Wanfeng Auto Wheel Company Limited.
Diamond Aircraft Industries’ support for the Myanmar military took place after its campaign of genocide against the Rohingya and while it was committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in other ethnic areas with total impunity. The project was running between 2017 and 2020, when it was temporarily disrupted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the EU’s arms embargo on Myanmar, in force during the project period, it is illegal to provide arms, dual use goods, and equipment used for internal repression to Myanmar, in addition to restrictions on military training and military cooperation.
Justice for Myanmar has obtained confidential records that confirm that the project would result in the Myanmar air force obtaining DART aircraft that would be locally assembled, with the military producing key composite components and parts in Myanmar over six apparent phases.
In the first phase of the DART-450 project in Myanmar, six DART-450 aircrafts were to be manufactured in Austria and shipped, bulk-packed and by airfreight, to Myanmar for final assembly from 2019. The assembly of one aircraft has been completed in Myanmar with the on-site support of Diamond Aircraft technicians from Austria and Germany.
Justice For Myanmar has identified companies from multiple countries implicated in the project that may also be in breach of sanctions. The companies whose key technical components have been used for the DART-450 project in Myanmar and are based in countries with arms embargoes on Myanmar include Garmin (Switzerland), SIRS Navigation (UK), Electronics International (USA) and Safran (France). Composite materials have been supplied to Myanmar by Engineered Cramer Composites (ECC) (Germany).
According to information obtained for Justice For Myanmar, negotiations between Diamond Aircraft Industries and Swedish company DST Control AB to equip the DART-450 aircrafts with OTUS-U250 sensors have also been initiated.
Justice For Myanmar identified companies whose computer numerical control machines have been used to manufacture and assemble the DART-450 aircrafts at the Shante air base in Myanmar, including Schuko (Germany), Styrotec (Germany) and Felder (Austria).
The Diamond Aircraft Industries deal with the Myanmar military was brokered by Miya Win International, a Myanmar company that has been sanctioned by the UK and has been involved in the procurement of other military end-use equipment from Austria for the Myanmar military, including unmanned aerial vehicles from Schiebel Corporation and a flight simulator from Axis Simulation.
Justice For Myanmar has submitted evidence of the Diamond Aircraft Industries business with the Myanmar military to the European Union’s sanctions whistleblower tool and calls for a swift investigation into Diamond and associated companies.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Diamond Aircraft Industries’ deep engagement with the Myanmar military is a shocking failure of the Austrian government to enforce the EU arms embargo on Myanmar.
“While the Myanmar military was carrying out indiscriminate airstrikes and committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity, Diamond Aircraft Industries was equipping and training Myanmar military personnel to locally assemble aircrafts that would clearly be used to repress the Myanmar people.
“This is not a standalone case but part of a pattern of Austria’s failures to stop its companies from supplying the Myanmar military with equipment and technology, including after the military’s illegal coup attempt on February 1, 2021
“Austria needs to urgently investigate all those that have violated EU restrictive measures on Myanmar, hold them accountable, and take concrete steps to prevent the further complicity of Austrian companies and citizens in the Myanmar military’s international crimes.
“The UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA should also investigate companies in their jurisdictions that are implicated in the Myanmar military’s DART-450 project and take action against all breaches of sanctions.
“The EU and its allies should sanction Miya Win International and its owners to help prevent further European transfers of arms and equipment to the murderous junta.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-06-12
Date of entry/update:
2023-06-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
150.1 KB
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Sub-title:
UK Sanctions Coordinator met with US, EU and Canadian counterparts to discuss continued cooperation on Myanmar sanctions efforts.
Description:
"On 24 May, the Sanctions Coordinators for the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and the services in charge of sanctions policy and implementation of the European Commission and the European External Action Service met to continue to assess and align ongoing efforts related to sanctions on Myanmar.
The partners discussed the significant scope of actions taken since the military coup in February 2021, ongoing coordination efforts, and the importance of continued information and target sharing to support sanctions packages. The UK announced further sanctions on 31 January and 27 March 2023, targeting suppliers to the Myanmar regime of military equipment and other material being used to attack its civilians. The partners identified the continued need for sustained direct cooperation in order to restrict the regime’s ability to carry out atrocities against the people of Myanmar and pressure the regime to change course to restore the country’s path toward genuine and inclusive democracy..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of publication:
2023-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2023-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
more
Description:
"The Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), Justice For Myanmar and Stop Adani condemn Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Limited (Adani Ports) for its continued development of the Ahlone International Port Terminal 2, which provides a revenue stream and a lucrative future asset for the Australian, Canadian, EU, UK and US sanctioned military conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC).
After announcing in October 2021 an intention to withdraw from the project, Adani Ports has pumped millions of dollars into developing the port and procuring valuable cranes that will ultimately benefit MEC.
Details of Adani Ports’ development of the Yangon port after the company announced its intention to withdraw has been revealed in a Justice For Myanmar investigation.
In addition, new evidence from leaked documents shows that following the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt, Adani Power Limited submitted an expression of interest to a US-sanctioned junta minister for the import of coal into India from the Sagaing Region of Myanmar and to seek cooperation in the development of the coal mining industry in Myanmar. At the time, the junta was waging a campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar in the very region where Adani was seeking to purchase coal. The junta’s attacks on the people of Myanmar continue today in Sagaing and across the country, in what amounts to ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On April 11, the junta carried out a shocking aerial attack against a gathering of people in Pazigyi village, Sagaing, killing at least 168 people, including many children. The youngest was a six-month old child.
Leaked documents published by Justice For Myanmar also raise concerns over the propriety of the US$22 million “land clearance fee” that Adani Ports paid to MEC in 2019. Details of the payment was first reported by ACIJ and Justice For Myanmar in 2021, and now confirmed in new evidence leaked from the Myanmar Investment Commission. The payment is non-standard, grossly inflated, and may amount to a kickback. Adani Ports should be independently investigated over its payments to MEC, including for land clearance.
The Ahlone International Port Terminal 2 project is a partnership with MEC under a build-operate-transfer deal, which as the UN warned makes Adani Ports complicit in the Myanmar military’s ongoing atrocity crimes. Adani Ports’ deal with MEC came after the Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign of genocide against the Rohingya and was identified by the UN Fact-Finding Mission in their report on the Myanmar’s military’s economic interests, which called for all businesses to cut ties with the Myanmar military and its conglomerates.
In March 2021, ACIJ and Justice For Myanmar published Port of Complicity, a report into Adani Ports’ business in Myanmar that included new evidence of payments to MEC and the company’s direct relationship with the war criminal Min Aung Hlaing, increasing pressure on investors. Adani Ports’ initial response was to deny the stark evidence of its business relationship with MEC.
In June 2021, Adani Ports disclosed that they had paid US$90 million to MEC.
In August 2021, ACIJ and JFM wrote to the US Treasury urging them to reject a request from Adani Ports for a general licence to exempt them from US sanctions on MEC.
In May 2022, Adani Ports announced that they had signed a binding share purchase agreement on a “completed project basis”, stating that the company would ensure full recovery of its investment. Adani Ports has refused to disclose the identity of its buyer.
Adani Ports’ business dealings in Myanmar and Australia have severely damaged the company’s reputation. In April 2021, Adani Ports was removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index after human rights and environmental groups submitted a case for review due to Adani Ports’ links to the Myanmar port project and the Adani Carmichael coal project in Australia. Adani Ports set up the Bowen Rail Company who will soon begin hauling coal from Adani’s mine to Adani’s coal port on the Great Barrier Reef, the North Queensland Export Terminal, which is operated by Adani Ports. Investors continue to exclude the company citing environmental and human rights concerns.
In March 2022, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) added Adani Ports to its watch list and in February 2023, it dumped it entirely by divesting from it and other Adani Group companies. Other investors should follow suit.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said:
“Adani Ports has been duplicitous in its dealings with the Myanmar military from the start, bankrolling a secretive and corrupt military conglomerate that is implicated in international crimes.
“Rather than exiting by the 2021-22 financial year as originally announced, Adani Ports has misled the people of Myanmar and its own shareholders, refusing to disclose the buyer and proceeding to develop a lucrative financial and logistical asset for the Myanmar military as it wages a campaign of terror against the people.
“Adani Power’s attempt to buy coal from the junta would, if successful, amount to misappropriation and help fund the junta's ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Adani’s complicity with the junta’s atrocity crimes and apparent payment of kickbacks has been enabled by the Indian government, which has pursued business and arms sales in a blatant disregard of its international responsibilities. India should change course, stand with the people of Myanmar and impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the junta.”
Rawan Arraf, Executive Director at the Australian Centre for International Justice said:
“Adani Ports has misled the public, investors, creditors, the human rights community, but most importantly the people of Myanmar and their supporters who had welcomed the news of Adani’s announcement to exit Myanmar.
“Adani continued to build the Yangon port to sell an asset which will remain in the hands of the MEC and the criminal junta.
“This dishonest behaviour must be condemned, and we urge investors to take responsible steps and divest from Adani Ports once and for all.
“Governments in Australia have emboldened Adani Group companies through lucrative climate-wrecking licenses, and have failed to take account of Adani’s shady deals with the junta. Sovereign wealth funds like the Future Fund have shown a complete disregard for their human rights responsibilities, and should follow the lead of Norges Bank and dump Adani entirely.
“Those complicit with human rights abuses and international crimes must be held to account.”
Fahimah Badrulhisham, campaigner with #StopAdani said:
“US short seller Hindenburg recently exposed Adani Group’s accounting fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering.
“Hindenburg has highlighted how Adani Group moves money around its vast corporate empire so that any investment in any Adani company could end up financing Adani’s dirty coal projects and their business with the Myanmar military.
“Adani’s investors like Blackrock and Barclays must do their due diligence on Adani and its immoral business practices that are funding the Myanmar junta’s massacres of peaceful protestors, indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, torture and the forced displacement of over 1.6 million since February 2021.
“Blackrock and Barclays should stand with the people of Myanmar and for human rights and immediately withdraw their money from Adani Group.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-05-04
Date of entry/update:
2023-05-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
200.69 KB 170.55 KB
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Description:
"Justice For Myanmar welcomes sanctions imposed by the UK and US on subsidiaries and one individual from Asia Sun Group of Companies, to coincide with the illegal Myanmar junta’s “Armed Forces Day”.
Asia Sun Group of Companies is a key local partner of the Myanmar military junta and is involved in importing, storing and delivering jet fuel to the military.
Asia Sun’s role in the Myanmar military’s jet fuel supply chain was detailed in the Amnesty International report, Deadly Cargo, with research contributed by Justice For Myanmar.
On March 24, 2023, the US sanctioned three Myanmar-registered companies in the Asia Sun network: Asia Sun Group Company Limited, Asia Sun Trading Company Limited and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Company Limited.
On March 27, 2023, the UK sanctioned the Singapore-registered Shoon Energy Pte Ltd, which was formerly named Asia Sun Aviation, along with its director and sole owner, Khin Phyu Win.
Amnesty International has revealed that in December 2022, the Swiss and Singapore based Puma Energy transferred its share of National Energy Puma Asia Sun (NEPAS) to Shoon Energy. NEPAS is a joint venture with the junta controlled Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE) and is responsible for the import, storage and sale of jet fuel.
Shoon Energy is the second Singapore registered company to be sanctioned following the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt, and further highlights the role Singapore continues to play as a base for businesses providing funds, arms and jet fuel to the Myanmar military.
The first Singapore business sanctioned since the coup attempt was Star Sapphire Group Pte Ltd, designated by the US on Friday.
In January, the UK sanctioned Asia Sun Trading, its sole director and shareholder Zaw Min Tun, former director and shareholder Win Kyaw Kyaw Aung, and Cargo Link Company Limited.
However, more action is urgently needed to stop the supply of jet fuel to the Myanmar junta, including through a total ban on jet fuel sales to Myanmar, sanctions on MPE and the extension of sanctions to all Asia Sun companies, directors and shareholders, including the key individuals May Thwe Aung and Moe Myint Aung, who remain unsanctioned.
Justice For Myanmar has documented at least 8 subsidiaries of Asia Sun Group of Companies that are directly involved in the jet fuel supply chain, and only four of these companies have been sanctioned in one or more jurisdictions. Asia Sun Group of Companies has at least 40 subsidiaries and 13 associated companies in total.
The illegal junta relies on its air force to wage a war of terror against the people of Myanmar. In the first two months of 2023, Chin Human Rights Foundation documented one airstrike per day in Chin State townships under martial law. In late February, a campaign of indiscriminate airstrikes in Karenni State killed civilians and displaced thousands.
By supplying jet fuel to the Myanmar military, Asia Sun Group of Companies is complicit in the junta’s airstrikes, which amount to atrocity crimes, and all those responsible should be held accountable under international law.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the latest round of sanctions from the US and UK targeting the junta’s jet fuel supply chain.
“However more urgently needs to be done to stop the junta from accessing jet fuel, which enables its ongoing air attacks against the people of Myanmar.
“The US, UK, EU and Australia should follow the lead of Canada by imposing a ban on the sale of jet fuel to Myanmar.
“The US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia need to coordinate to sanction MPE and the whole Asia Sun network of companies and individuals, as well all other companies and individuals that continue to supply jet fuel to the Myanmar military.
“The junta’s procurement of arms and jet fuel is enabled by its access to funds. Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) remains the biggest source of revenue for the junta and must be targeted to disrupt the junta’s ability to maintain its campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.
“We urge the US, UK, Canada and Australia to follow the EU and sanction MOGE immediately, as has been repeatedly demanded by civil society and the National Unity Government.
“It is concerning that Asia Sun has continued to operate in Singapore, along with many other companies supporting the junta’s international crimes.
“Recent US and UK sanctions against Singapore companies should be a wake-up call to the Singapore government to act in accordance with its international responsibilities and stop allowing Singaporean companies to support the junta.
“We note Singapore Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's recent statement committing to a prohibition on the transfer of arms and dual use goods to Myanmar, but comprehensive action needs to be seen.”
More information:
See our data on Asia Sun Group of Companies subsidiaries and directors here, and read Amnesty International’s Deadly Cargo report, with research supported by Justice For Myanmar
Read our joint press release with The Sentry welcoming US sanctions against Star Sapphire Group of Companies, subsidiaries and individuals here
Justice For Myanmar, a group of covert activists campaigning for justice and accountability for the people of Myanmar, is calling for an end to military business and for federal democracy and a sustainable peace..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-03-28
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
150.57 KB 119.92 KB
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK today welcomed new UK sanctions targeting companies supplying aviation fuel, arms and aircraft parts to the Burmese military. The sanctions follow similar sanctions targeting aviation fuel announced by the USA on 24th March.
The new sanctions target the following:
Shoon Energy, linked to the already sanctioned Asia Sun company, which supplies aviation fuel to the military.
Khin Phyu Win, Director of Shoon Energy.
Tun Min Latt, Director of the Star Sapphire group of companies. He is a Burmese business crony close to the head of the military, Min Aung Hlaing, and also an arms broker and linked to the illegal drug trade.
The updated sanctions list is available here.
It follows Asia Sun Trading and two executives being sanctioned by the UK in February for supplying aviation fuel to the Burmese military.
Since the attempted military coup began on 1st February 2021, the Burmese military have increasingly used airstrikes against civilians and those resisting military rule. More than 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis.
These almost daily airstrikes are a violation of international law, with homes, schools, hospitals and medical centres being targeted, as well as churches and other religious buildings.
Stopping the supply of aviation fuel is one of the single most effective things the international community can do to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma.
“These sanctions are well targeted, prioritising suppliers of aviation fuel and arms brokers, but a complete ban on British companies supplying aviation fuel to Burma is the only way to ensure no British companies are complicit in airstrikes against civilians,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The British government has the right policy in seeking to cut off sources of revenue, arms and aviation fuel but they are implementing the policy far too slowly.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-03-27
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Description:
"Justice For Myanmar and The Sentry welcome the adoption of sanctions today by the United States on Star Sapphire Group of Companies, Star Sapphire Trading Company Limited, Star Sapphire Group Pte. Ltd., and two of their owners, Tun Min Latt and his wife Win Min Soe.
Star Sapphire Group of Companies is a Myanmar conglomerate with diversified interests in trading, power, hospitality, and mining. As revealed by Justice For Myanmar in an April 2022 report, Star Sapphire Group of Companies has substantial business links with theMyanmar military. The United Kingdom sanctioned Star Sapphire Group of Companies in August 2022.
According to the Department of the Treasury’s press release, Tun Min Latt has used his companies “to import military arms and equipment, including drones and aircraft parts” and has acted as Myanmar’s agent with the US-sanctioned Chinese arms manufacturer NORINCO.Alongside institutional links between Star Sapphire Group of Companies and the Myanmar military, significant ties exist between Tun Min Latt and his wife Win Min Soe and the family of junta leader and commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military Min Aung Hlaing. Research by Justice For Myanmar and Reuters published in January 2023 revealed that Tun Min Latt held assets in the names of Min Aung Hlaing’s adult children at the time of Tun Min Latt’s arrest by the Thai police in Bangkok in September 2022.
The arrest was carried out after Tun Min Latt and his associates were charged with drug trafficking and money laundering; he remains incustody in Thailand where his trial is ongoing. Thai police found at the time of his arrest that Tun Min Latt was in possession of the property deed for a luxury Bangkok condominium in the name of Aung Pyae Sone and a checkbook for a Thai bank account in the name of Khin Thiri Thet Mon.
Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon are the adult son and daughter, respectively, of Min Aung Hlaing; both children were sanctioned by the US in March 2021 for having “directly benefitted from their father’s position and malign influence.”
The Sentry and Justice For Myanmar welcome the decision by the US to sanction these military cronies and call for likeminded jurisdictions,including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, to coordinate efforts to ensure that all of the Star Sapphire entities and owners are sanctioned by each jurisdiction.
Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, stated: “We welcome the latest round of US sanctions against StarSapphire entities and two of their owners, who have aided and abetted the Myanmar military’s genocide, war crimes, and crimesagainst humanity through financial support and the brokering of arms. These sanctions are also significant for targeting aSingaporean entity for the first time and help send a message that Singapore is no longer safe for Myanmar cronies. Tun Min Lattalso has deep personal ties with the war criminal Min Aung Hlaing and his family, helping them profit from the military’s illegal coup attempt and hide assets offshore. We urge the US and its allies to extend sanctions to the whole Star Sapphire network, including Htet Aung, Khine Wint Mon, Sithu Maung, and Thant Lwin Moe, as well as all other enablers of the illegitimate Myanmar military junta.”
Justyna Gudzowska, director of illicit finance policy at The Sentry, said: “Tun Min Latt, Win Min Soe, and the Star Sapphireentities epitomize the enablers that facilitate business transactions with the Myanmar military in ways that benefit both the genocidal institution and its leadership. These welcome designations act as a warning and deterrent to businesspersons, corporate entities, and financial institutions from Myanmar and beyond that engaging in transactions with the Myanmar military will incur legal and reputational consequences.”
For media inquiries or interview requests for The Sentry, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, [email protected]
For media inquiries for Justice For Myanmar, please contact: Yadanar Maung, Spokesperson, [email protected]
About Justice For Myanmar
Justice For Myanmar is a collective of covert activists working to create a just, peaceful, and federal democratic Myanmar. The collective uses painstaking research, data visualization, and hard-hitting reporting to expose multinational corporations with business ties to the Myanmar military—money that funds inequality, corruption, violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Their work has helped pressure multinational corporations to divest hundreds of millions of dollars from the Myanmar military, led to targeted sanctions, and raised international awareness of the situation in Myanmar.
About The Sentry
(Short descriptor for press use: “The Sentry, an investigative organization that tracks corruption”)
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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130.69 KB 141.93 KB
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"State-owned arms company Yantra India Limited has shipped multiple 122mm barrels to the Myanmar military in October 2022 in likely breach of international law, a Justice For Myanmar investigation has found.
The 122mm barrels appear to be for howitzers that are produced in Myanmar by the Office of the Chief of Defence Industries (OCDI), also known as the Directorate of Defence Industries, a unit of the military that is sanctioned by the US, UK, EU and Canada.
The barrels were sent to a company owned by the Myanmar military arms broker, Kyaw Kyaw Htun, who Justice For Myanmar previously exposed for importing fuzes from the Indian company Sandeep Metalcraft to be used by the Myanmar military for the detonation of munitions. Kyaw Kyaw Htun and his network not yet been sanctioned.
Yantra India Limited is an official public sector undertaking operating under the Department of Defence Production of the Indian Ministry of Defence. Yantra’s exports of 122mm barrels to Myanmar follows several other known exports of weapons and weapon components from Indian companies after the Myanmar military’s attempted coup, including a remote controlled weapon station from the majority state-owned company, Bharat Electronics Limited.
Since the military’s illegal coup attempt, the junta has murdered protesters, shelled villages and conducted indiscriminate airstrikes, killing more than 3,000 people and displacing over 1.2 million. The latest shipment comes as the military junta continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, including with howitzers.
The Myanmar army has recently been recorded firing 122mm howitzer rounds into civilian areas. For example, on 6 December 2022, the military fired rounds from a 122mm howitzer to the outskirts of Namsai Hkahku in Hpakant Township, Kachin State. On 13 December 2022, 122mm howitzer rounds were fired in Bhamo Township, Kachin State.
The fact that Yantra India Ltd is a fully state-owned company, coupled with the fact that Indian arms manufacturing companies have continued to supply weapons after the attempted coup, show India’s serious disregard for international humanitarian law and norms of conduct contained in the Wassenaar Arrangement.
Justice For Myanmar calls on India to immediately impose an arms embargo on the Myanmar military junta, which is a terrorist organisation under Myanmar law and as defined in international law, and cease all training and other military support.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: "India is directly supporting the junta’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians by allowing the export of barrels that that the junta will use in its continued gross violations of international law.
“As a democracy and a neighbour of Myanmar, we appeal to the Indian government to stand with the people of Myanmar, not war criminals and their illegitimate junta.
“India must immediately stop arming the Myanmar military junta and uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.
“We urge fellow members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), Australia, Japan and the USA, to use their influence to stop the flow of arms from India to the Myanmar military.
“It is disappointing that Kyaw Kyaw Htun and his network has not been sanctioned, despite clear evidence of their complicity in the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity through the brokering of arms and surveillance equipment.
“We call for urgent sanctions against Kyaw Kyaw Htun, his businesses and associates, along with all other enablers of the junta.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-03-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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pdf
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113.84 KB
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Description:
"In a bid to attract foreign funds for the country’s electricity sector, which has been crippled since the coup, the junta has waived tax on investment in the sector.
The junta-appointed Myanmar Investment Commission has announced it will waive tax on production and distribution of renewable energy including solar power. The regime has made electricity a national priority for investment and will exempt or reduce tax on imported materials, machines, equipment, spare parts, and construction materials that are not available in Myanmar, according to the announcement.
Taxes will also be waived for businesses related to electric vehicles, it added.
However, a local businessmen working in the sector commented that electricity production is a long-term project, and foreigners will not be interested in investing unless the country has political and economic stability.
“Projects in the electricity sector take around seven years to break even and you only start to see profits after seven years. Even Chinese companies do not want to invest because of uncertainty in Myanmar. Also, investors would be paid in kyats for their electricity, and the kyat is depreciating. This is also a challenge to potential investors,” he said.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s family and their cronies have won licenses to operate solar power plants. But they themselves do not want to make huge investments for the long term, and are seeking business partners, he added.
An energy expert told The Irrawaddy: “Foreign investors consider country risk [the risk of investing or lending in a country] as more important than tax exemptions. If a country is unstable, and risk is high, international banks will not grant loans for investment in that country. So, we can’t expect foreign investors to come just because of low tax.”
Another local business owner engaged in electricity production said the regime has introduced tax exemption not out of a desire for electricity sector development but because junta leaders are interested in potential profits from the industry.
The World Bank and other international agencies that had been providing financial and technical assistance for Myanmar’s electricity sector suspended their assistance following the coup. Electricity projects have also stalled.
Suspended projects include a 35-million-euro hydropower plant on the Salween River to be built with loans from French development agency AFD, and a Japan-backed US$ 2 billion LNG (liquefied natural gas) power plant in Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Yangon.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based VPower halted electricity generation at its 400-megawatt (MW) LNG power plant in Yangon’s Thaketa Township and 350MW power plant in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in July 2021, citing rising LNG prices in the international market and depreciation of the kyat against the dollar.
In September that year, VPower announced it had pulled out of two power projects, each with a capacity of 200MW, in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu and Mandalay Region’s Myingyan.
In May 2020, the now ousted National League for Democracy government invited bids for the construction of 29 ground-mounted solar projects capable of generating a total of 1 gigawatt of power under a 20-year build-operate-and-own contract. Chinese companies and their consortia won the bids to build 28 of the 29 plants.
The military regime cancelled tenders for 26 solar power projects and blacklisted the Chinese companies after they stalled on the projects following the coup.
Myanmar has suffered rolling blackouts since late 2021 since the regime ow mainly relies on hydropower plants to supply electricity.
The country’s total electricity production capacity currently stands at 3,600 megawatts, with Chinese companies accounting for about 2,000 megawatts and 56 percent of investment in Myanmar’s electricity sector, according to an August 2022 report of the Institute for Strategy and Policy..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2023-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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Description:
"As evidence grows of British companies’ involvement in Burma’s gas industry, Burma Campaign UK is calling on the British government to sanction the military-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
The British government must take action to prevent British companies being involved in Burma’s gas industry, which earns the Burmese military more than $2bn a year. They must also work with allies to prevent gas revenue reaching the Burmese military.
British involvement in Burma’s gas industry includes:
InterMoor, a subsidiary of British company Acteon Group, has been working on the Shwe gas project in Burma.
A holding company in Bermuda, a British overseas territory, is being used by Canadian company MTI Energy to purchase a 41% stake in the Yadana gas project.
Burma Campaign UK is working to confirm information about British insurance companies insuring vessels and infrastructure for gas projects in Burma.
“British companies involved in the gas industry in Burma are facilitating an industry which enables the Burmese military to receive billions of dollars,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Gas sales provide revenue which the Burmese military can use for the purchase of arms and equipment, including the jets used for airstrikes against civilians.”
The British government has a policy of systematically identifying and sanctioning sources of revenue, arms and equipment to the Burmese military. However, the policy is being implemented too slowly.
Burma Campaign UK is calling on Foreign Secretary James Cleverly MP to speed up the implementation of sanctions against other sources of revenue and arms.
The British government should seek to find creative ways of preventing gas revenue reaching the Burmese military, such as the creation of escrow accounts and sanctioning international bank accounts of MOGE.
Burma Campaign UK is asking supporters to write to the Foreign Secretary calling on him to sanction MOGE..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Oil and gas, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Sub-title:
Prime Minister Should Fulfill Pledge by Stopping Payments, Imposing Sanctions
Description:
"During a televised parliamentary budget session on Wednesday, February 22, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government will “appropriately handle” a development aid project in Myanmar that is benefiting the country’s abusive military. Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Japanese foreign minister, echoed the prime minister’s public pledge to take appropriate action.
The leaders’ comments came in response to questions from an opposition politician about Japan’s Bago River Bridge Construction Project, being built partly by Japanese construction giant Yokogawa Bridge Corp. In March 2021, Myanmar Now reported that a steel mill owned by the military-owned conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) was supplying steel for the project and “profiting enormously.” Financial transactions analyzed by Human Rights Watch show that from July 2022 to January 2023, Yokogawa Bridge Corp. transferred around US$2 million to MEC for the project, with United States government approval.
MEC generates vast revenue through businesses in sectors including manufacturing, mining, and telecommunications, according to a 2019 report by the United Nations-backed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The US, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, and Australia have sanctioned MEC and Myanmar’s other military conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, for their role in generating significant revenues that help fund military abuses.
Since the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar’s military has been responsible for widespread and systematic human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians that amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Prior to the coup, Myanmar’s security forces committed crimes against humanity and genocidal acts against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State, forcing thousands to flee to Bangladesh, where about 900,000 Rohingya are currently living in overcrowded camps. An estimated 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State, where they are subject to persecution and violence, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods.
If Japan’s prime minister and foreign minister are serious about “swiftly restor[ing] Myanmar’s democratic political system,” they should fulfill their own pledge and take concrete action. This means stopping payments to MEC, suspending all non-humanitarian aid to Myanmar, and imposing targeted economic sanctions on military leaders and military-owned conglomerates..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-02-24
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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Description:
"Two years after the military coup staged in Myanmar/Burma on 1st February 2021, the Council adopted today restrictive measures against 9 persons and 7 entities in view of the continuing escalation of violence, grave human rights violations and threats to the peace, security and stability in Myanmar/Burma.
The sanctioned individuals include the Minister for Energy, prominent businessmen who have supported the regime’s repression with arms and dual use goods, and high-ranking officers in the Myanmar armed forces that are closely associated with the regime. Also listed are politicians and administrators from the Yangon Region involved in the process of death sentences and execution of four democracy activists in July 2022, and in Kachin State, where they oversaw air strikes, massacres, raids, arson and the use of human shields committed by the military.
The listed entities include departments of the Ministry of Defence and a state-owned enterprise under its jurisdiction, as well as private companies supplying fuel, arms and funds to the military.
Restrictive measures currently apply to a total of 93 individuals and 18 entities. Those designated are subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territory. In addition, EU persons and entities are prohibited to make funds available to those listed.
Other EU restrictive measure will remain in place: the embargo on arms and equipment and export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications which might be used for internal repression, the export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police, and the prohibition of military training and cooperation with the Tatmadaw.
The restrictive measures come in addition to the withholding of EU financial assistance directly going to the government and the freezing of all EU assistance that may be seen as legitimising the junta.
The EU condemns in the strongest possible terms the grave human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence, the persecution of civil society, human rights defenders and journalists, attacks on the civilian population, targeting also children and persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities across the country, and recent deadly air strikes on civilian targets, including on schools and hospitals, by the Myanmar armed forces. Those responsible for the coup, as well as the perpetrators of violence and gross human rights violations, should be held accountable. The EU reiterates its call for increased international preventive action, including an arms embargo in order to cease the sale and transfer of arms and equipment, as they facilitate the military’s atrocities.
All hostilities must stop immediately. The military authorities must fully respect international humanitarian law, and put an end to the indiscriminate use of force.
The European Union supports ASEAN’s and the UN´s efforts to help Myanmar to find a peaceful solution to the crisis and welcomes the UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 2669 on Myanmar. Myanmar should swiftly and faithfully implement ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, as reiterated at the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits in November 2022, and at the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in December 2022.
The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Background
In February 2021, the Council adopted conclusions condemning in the strongest terms the military coup carried out in Myanmar/Burma.
On 31 January 2023, the High Representative issued a declaration on behalf of the EU on the 2nd anniversary of the military take-over stating that, in the absence of any swift progress on the situation in Myanmar, the EU stood ready to adopt further restrictive measures against those directly responsible for and those abetting the undermining of democracy and the serious human rights violations in the country.
The Council has imposed restrictive measures against those responsible for the military coup staged in Myanmar/Burma on 1 February 2021, and the subsequent military and police repression against peaceful demonstrators on 22 March, 19 April and 21 June 2021, and 21 February and 8 November 2022..."
Source/publisher:
Council of the European Union
Date of publication:
2023-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK today welcomed new European Union sanctions targeting the Burmese military and associates facilitating their crimes.
Nine people and seven companies/entities have been added to the list of those sanctioned.
This round of sanctions is well targeted, focusing on suppliers of aviation fuel, arms brokers, military procurement entities and members of the Burmese military and associated bodies.
The new sanctions apply to:
Aviation fuel supplier
Asia Sun Group
9 Individuals
Hlaing Oo, Chair of Myanmar Chemical and Machinery (MCM), who has brokered arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
Sit Taing Aung, who has brokered arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
Kyaw Min Oo, Director of Sky Aviator, who has brokered arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
Moe Aung, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Navy.
Maung Maung Aye, Chief of General Staff for the Myanmar army, navy, and air force.
Myo Myint Aung, Yangon Region economic Minister of the State Administration Council (SAC).
Zin Min Htet, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs and Chief of the Myanmar Police Force.
Ko Ko Maung, Regional Military Commander in Kachin State.
Myo Myint Oo, Union Minister for Energy.
3 Military arms procurement bodies
Myanmar Office of the Quarter Master General, Myanmar Directorate of Defense Industries, Myanmar Directorate of Defense Procurement.
3 Arms Brokers
Dynasty Group of Companies, International Gateways Group of Company Limited (IGG), and Sky Aviator Company Limited.
The new sanctions legislation is available here.
“These new EU sanctions are right on target, aimed at limiting airstrikes and supplies of arms and equipment, as well as targeting individuals responsible for serious human rights violations,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The EU has the right approach, but they are moving too slowly to implement these sanctions. The delay in cutting off sources of revenue, arms, and equipment is costing lives.”
There were only two rounds of EU Burma sanctions in 2022, despite the increased use of airstrikes against civilian targets, the first executions of political prisoners in decades, and the number of political prisoners reaching an all-time record high of more than 13,000.
Last week, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma reported that the number of those killed since the attempted coup began has reached 3,000. This figure is an underestimate because of the challenges of documentation in many parts of the country.
“Two years on from the coup, there are hundreds of companies and individuals which should be sanctioned, but have not been,” said Anna Roberts. “The people of Burma are doing everything they can to resist military rule and defend human rights, but the same can’t be said for the EU, UK or USA. The EU is implementing the right policy, but far too slowly.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Buddhist Economics, Sanctions, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"A Justice For Myanmar investigation using open source and leaked documents has identified 22 international oilfield services companies active in Myanmar since the military’s illegal attempted coup.
The oil and gas sector in Myanmar is illegally controlled by the junta and is its biggest source of foreign revenue, bankrolling the military’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
These oilfield services companies provide critical support and equipment to the sector, from drilling to maintenance to supply. By doing so, they help to keep the gas revenues flowing to the junta, making them complicit in its international crimes.
8 of the companies identified are either fully or partially based in the USA, including the biggest companies in the sector: Halliburton, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes, which have branch offices in Myanmar that remain active.
Tax filings for the first year of the military’s coup attempt, provided by Distributed Denial of Secrets, show earnings in the millions of US dollars.
The activities of US oilfield services companies have been encouraged by the failure of the US government to sanction Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), an agency illegally controlled by the junta.
MOGE regulates the sector and acts as both a state revenue collector and commercial partner in oil and gas projects, ensuring the junta gets lucrative tax and royalty payments, as well as a vast share of profits.
Concerningly, the continued presence of US companies has been encouraged by the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, which lists the oil and gas industry in Myanmar as a “best prospect industry” and encourages US companies to seek opportunities, including applying for junta tenders.
With the National Defense Authorization Act signed into law in December, the US must act now and impose sanction on MOGE, in coordination with its allies the UK, Canada and Australia.
Oilfield services companies outside the EU, where sanctions on MOGE are already in place, must uphold their international law and due diligence responsibilities and stop their activities in Myanmar unless the projects they are working on suspend payments to the junta, and withhold them in protected accounts.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Oilfield services companies in Myanmar have blood on their hands for operating in an industry that bankrolls the illegal Myanmar military junta, as it wages a campaign of terror against the people.
“It is deplorable that giants such as Halliburton, Diamond Offshore Drilling and Schlumberger that are listed on US stock exchanges have maintained operations in Myanmar, helping to keep oil and gas revenue flowing to the junta. Their business has helped the junta purchase the bullets, bombs and jet fuel that it needs for its indiscriminate attacks.
“These companies have breached their international legal responsibilities and are complicit in the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity by knowingly servicing oil and gas projects that fund the junta’s atrocities.
“We call on all oilfield services companies to suspend operations on projects that are funding the junta.
“The activities of US oilfield services companies following the military’s coup attempt demonstrates a failure of the US Government to take decisive action against the junta and its terror campaign by sanctioning MOGE.
“The Biden Administration’s contradictory approach to Myanmar has allowed US oil and gas corporations to continue business as usual in Myanmar, enabling the junta’s international crimes.
“While the Department of State has warned that dealing with MOGE risks money laundering, furthering corruption and contributing to serious human rights violations, the US Department of Commerce is advising US companies to seek profits in the oil and gas sectors in Myanmar and to compete for MOGE tenders.
“We call on the US and its allies Australia, Canada and the UK to stand with the people of Myanmar by imposing sanctions on MOGE and helping to cut the flow of funds to the junta.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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pdf
Size:
111.78 KB
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Description:
"US oil major Chevon is selling its 41.1% stake in the Yadana Gas Project to a subsidiary of the Canadian oil company MTI Energy. Chevron first disclosed the deal to the Guardian.
Yadana is the biggest gas project in Myanmar, within an industry that is the largest source of foreign revenue for the illegal military junta. Gas revenue bankrolls the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Yadana project was formerly operated by TotalEnergies, which withdrew in 2022, increasing Chevron’s stake to 41.1%, the largest in the consortium. Other stakeholders in the project are PTTEP, the current operator, and Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a state agency illegally controlled by the junta.
Through the sale, MTI Energy and Chevron will ensure funds continue to flow to the junta, making them complicit in the junta’s international crimes.
Who is MTI Energy?
MTI Energy Inc, based in Edmonton, Alberta, is an offshoot of oilfield equipment manufacturer Mitey Titan Industries and located at the same address. MTI Energy CEO Mehtab (Tab) Khehra has been described as heading “a whole galaxy of service companies active in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and especially Nigeria.”
An Alberta registry search shows that the company has four directors, including Toronto corporate lawyer, Ralph Lean, and Adewale Olorunsola (AKA Wale Sola), who heads the Nigerian-Canadian merchant bank, Rein Capital. Rein Capital subsidiary, Rein Energy, is a shareholder in MTI subsidiaries Shibah Energy and Caxes Energy, according to data from the Dutch corporate registry.
In 2021, Shibah Energy and Caxes Energy took over Chevron’s stake in Brazil’s Papa-Terra field. MTI Energy also secured four blocks in 2021 in Angola.
MTI Energy is registered as having no shareholders and it is unclear who the company’s profits are distributed to.
MTI Energy is purchasing Chevron’s stake through its Bermuda subsidiary, Et Martem Holdings. Bermuda is a tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction.
As a UK overseas territory, Bermuda has implemented UK sanctions on Myanmar under the territory’s International Sanctions Regulations 2013.
However, with MOGE unsanctioned in either jurisdiction, Canadian and UK sanctions appear insufficient in preventing the transaction.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Chevron’s irresponsible sale of its stake in the Yadana Project to MTI Energy will ensure that gas funds keep flowing to the illegal Myanmar junta, bankrolling their campaign of terror in response to two years of mass resistance that has prevented the junta from gaining control of Myanmar.
“MTI Energy’s investment will make the company complicit in the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We condemn MTI Energy’s total disregard for the lives and democratic will of the people of Myanmar, and its blatant breach of the company’s obligations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
“This sale is the result of failures of the Canadian and UK governments to sanction Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
“Is the Canadian government willing to stand by while a Canadian company takes over the largest stake in such a significant gas project that enriches the murderous, illegal junta?
“We call on the Canadian and UK governments to immediately sanction MOGE and prevent companies in their territories from financing the junta’s international crimes."..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
118.16 KB
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Description:
"The NUG welcomes the long-awaited sanctions imposed by the Australian government targeting 16 military individuals including Min Aung Hlaing himself and his deputy Soe Win and 2 entities (Myanmar Economic Cooperation and Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd) on the second anniversary of the Coup.
The NUG also appreciates another wave of sanctions released by the US, UK and Canadian governments. The US has sanctioned six individuals: 3 from MOGE, 2 former and current military officials, 1 individual, daughter of Tay Za, as financial support to military regime and three entities: the Union Election Commission (UEC), and Mining Enterprises No 1 and 2. The new sanctions by the UK government target two individuals and two companies that play an important role in aviation fuel supply to the junta. The Canadian government targets 6 individuals and imposes a prohibition related to the export, sales and supply of aviation fuel to Myanmar military - the first such embargo in the world, and one we hope other nations will follow as a necessary step to limiting the junta's ability to bombard civilians from the air.
These new sanctions are significant measures to tackle a worsening conflict and in particular ongoing air strikes against civilians amid a range of other barbaric attacks by the military. The junta has been indiscriminately targeting civilians and villages with the use of heavy weapons and artillery air strikes. Coordinated and targeted sanctions such as these are necessary to lessen human rights violations and crimes against humanity by the military regime.
We are grateful for the work of the Australian, US, UK and Canadian governments in placing these important sanctions to slow the military's capacity to continue their campaign of terror and repression. We are hopeful that further targeted sanctions will follow, and we hope that more countries follow suit.
We once again request that all governments and the international community immediately place aggressive, targeted sanctions on the military regime and those who support and supply them, in particular restricting the supply of munitions, weapons, and jet fuel..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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Title: JFM welcomes targeted sanctions imposed on Myanmar junta two years after illegal coup attempt
Description:
"Justice For Myanmar welcomes sanctions imposed by Australia, Canada, the UK and USA on members of the terrorist Myanmar military junta, its businesses and jet fuel suppliers to mark the second anniversary of the military’s illegal coup attempt.
The new sanctions come as the people of Myanmar continue to courageously resist the junta in the face of its nationwide campaign of terror, ensuring its attempted coup is failing.
The junta’s response to mass resistance has been the continued commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, murdering over 2,900 people, arbitrarily arresting over 17,000 more, displacing 1.1 million people and carrying out indiscriminate air strikes across Myanmar, enabled by the supply of funds, arms and jet fuel.
Canada and the UK have both responded to a grassroots and international campaign to stop jet fuel sales to the military.
Canada is the first jurisdiction in the world to ban the supply of jet fuel to the junta, while the UK has sanctioned crony companies Asia Sun Trading Company Limited and Cargo Link Company Limited, both part of Asia Sun Group, which broker the supply of jet fuel to the junta and stand complicit in its international crimes.
In November, Amnesty International released Deadly Cargo, a report into the Myanmar military’s jet fuel supply chain with research supported by Justice For Myanmar. The report named Asia Sun Trading and Cargo Link.
At the time, Justice For Myanmar also published a list of Asia Sun Group companies, directors and shareholder for targeted sanctions.
The US has sanctioned the illegal junta’s energy minister and the managing director and deputy managing director of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), responsible for the junta’s biggest source of foreign revenue. But the US has disappointingly failed to sanction MOGE.
The US has also sanctioned Mining Enterprise No. 1 and Mining Enterprise No. 2, lucrative state agencies illegally controlled by the junta.
Australia has sanctioned military conglomerates Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and 16 junta members, including war criminals Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win, after refusing to sanction them in response to their role in the military’s genocide against the Rohingya.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the latest round of sanctions from Australia, Canada, the UK and USA, which target military conglomerates, state-owned enterprises illegally controlled by the junta, and the military’s jet fuel supply chain.
“The people of Myanmar have sustained mass resistance to the military’s brutal and illegal coup attempt and its campaign of terror, ensuring that the coup and the junta’s sham so-called ‘elections’ will not succeed.
“The military junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity are enabled by the flow of funds, arms and jet fuel.
“While these latest sanctions are a positive step in cutting the junta’s access to resources, far more needs to be done to coordinate sanctions that systematically target the junta’s sources of revenue, arms and jet fuel.
“So far, only the EU has sanctioned MOGE, which bankrolls the junta. We call on the US, UK, Canada and Australia to follow the EU and also sanction MOGE.
“We call on the US, UK, EU and Australia to follow Canada in imposing a complete ban on the supply of jet fuel to the junta.
“Democracies in the region, including Japan, South Korea and India, must also urgently step up and sanction the junta, its businesses and arms brokers.
“The international community must take concerted action against the junta, a terrorist organisation, hold perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity to account, and stand with the people of Myanmar.
“The Spring Revolution will prevail.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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"January 31, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
On the eve of the second anniversary of the coup d’état by the Myanmar military, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced additional sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations against six individuals and a new prohibition on the export, sale, supply or shipment of aviation fuel to the Myanmar military regime.
Within two years, the regime has completely reversed a decade of democratic progress, plunging the country into political, economic and humanitarian crises, killing thousands of men, women, and children, detaining many thousands more, and forcing the displacement of over one million. The worsening crises in Myanmar continue to undermine peace, prosperity, and stability for the country’s neighbours and the broader region.
The sanctions announced today, in coordination with our international partners, including the United Kingdom and the United States, respond to the ongoing repression of the people of Myanmar by the military. Canada’s measures are in direct response to worsening armed conflict, in particular the increased use of aerial attacks against civilians, in contravention of international humanitarian law. They also respond to deeply concerning reports of serious violations of international human rights law by the military regime.
These latest measures are complementary to broader ASEAN efforts and its Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar. These sanctions are in line with Canada’s commitments under its Indo-Pacific Strategy, including promoting peace, resilience and security, and upholding democracy and human rights.
On the second anniversary of the Myanmar coup, Canada reiterates continued support for the people of Myanmar and their aspirations for an inclusive and democratic society, and for the range of pro-democracy actors advancing a peaceful return to a democratic, peaceful and inclusive Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Government of Canada
Date of publication:
2023-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK today welcomed new UK sanctions targeting suppliers of aviation fuel to the Burmese military. Limiting the ability of the Burmese military to carry out airstrikes is one of the single most effective steps the international community can do to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma.
The British government today announced sanctions on:
Asia Sun Trading Company Limited and Cargo Link Company Limited both part of what is known as the Asia Sun group which dominates the aviation fuel sector in Myanmar and are involved in the transfer of aviation fuel to the Myanmar Air Force.
Zaw Min Tun: Director and sole shareholder of Asia Sun Trading.
Win Kyaw Kyaw Aung: former Director and shareholder of Asia Sun Trading.
The British government statement is here.
“The British government is spot on, targeting suppliers of aviation fuel to the military, but they need to go further and faster to cut supplies to Burma, as the military seize civilian supplies of aviation fuel,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK.
However, Burma Campaign UK is extremely disappointed by the incredibly slow pace of the implementation of sanctions.
“Two years on from the attempted coup starting there are still numerous sources of revenue and arms which have yet to be sanctioned,” said Anna Roberts. “The snail’s pace of sanctions implementation allows the military to access more revenue and arms. Foreign Office ministers need to devote more resources to the speedy implementation of sanctions.”
As the military fails to consolidate its coup in the face of growing resistance, it is using increasingly desperate tactics, including daily airstrikes and artillery strikes against civilians, displacing more than a million people.
Last year Amnesty International published a report exposing aviation fuel suppliers to Burma: The report is available here...https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2022/11/myanmar-the-supply-chain-fueling-war-crimes/..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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Description:
"Action Taken in Coordination with the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada
WASHINGTON – Today, on the day before the two-year anniversary of the brutal military coup d’état that deposed Burma’s democratically elected government, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating six individuals and three entities connected to Burma’s military regime pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14014. This action will occur in conjunction with actions taken by both the United Kingdom and Canada.
On February 1, 2021, Burma’s military overthrew the democratically elected government and removed the civilian government leaders from power, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Over the past two years, the military has continued to use violence and oppression to deny the people of Burma the ability to choose their own leaders. Burma’s military regime has used its military aircraft to conduct aerial bombings and other attacks against pro-democracy forces, killing and displacing countless civilians.
“Two years after Burma’s military forcibly overthrew the democratically elected government of Burma, the United States, along with partner nations like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, continue to stand with the people of Burma as they seek freedom and democracy,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States will continue to promote accountability for those who provide financial and material support to, and directly enable, the violent suppression of democracy in Burma.”
BURMESE GOVERNMENT ENTITIES
Following the 2021 coup, Burma’s military regime appointed new members to the UNION ELECTION COMMISSION (UEC) — including Thein Soe, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 on April 21, 2021 — to oversee a post-coup do-over vote after rejecting the results of the November 2020 democratic election. The UEC is the constitutionally mandated body that is responsible for election-related procedures and activities, including organizing, verifying, and announcing election results.
Additionally, the regime has continued to control and benefit from the extraction and export of natural resources of Burma and has utilized various state-owned entities (SOEs) that are fully owned by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) to act as joint venture partners, as well as regulators and policymakers. MINING ENTERPRISE NO 1, which was previously designated by the European Union on February 21, 2022, and MINING ENTERPRISE NO 2 are two such SOEs that play a dominant role in Burma’s mineral sector.
The UEC, Mining Enterprise No 1, and Mining Enterprise No 2 are being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being a political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government of Burma.
BURMESE ENERGY OFFICIALS
Since the 2021 coup, Burma’s military regime has continued to benefit from the substantial revenue provided by the production and export of oil and gas, which generates over $1 billion in revenue annually and is the single largest source of foreign currency revenue for the regime. Burma’s Ministry of Energy is controlled by the State Administration Council, which was designated on April 21, 2021 pursuant to E.O. 14014; manages the energy sector; and controls the SOEs involved in the production of oil and gas, including the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
Myo Myint Oo is the Union Minister of Energy. The Union Minister of Energy represents the Government of Burma in international and domestic energy sector engagements, while also managing the state-owned entities involved in the production and export of oil and gas.
Aung Min is the Managing Director and Than Min is the Deputy Managing Director of MOGE. As managing director and deputy managing director, both individuals are directly involved in the day-to-day operations and management of the regime’s single largest revenue generating SOE.
Myo Myint Oo, Aung Min, and Than Min are being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being or having been leaders or officials of the Government of Burma on or after February 2, 2021.
FORMER AND CURRENT BURMESE MILITARY OFFICIALS
Additionally, despite the international condemnation of the collateral damage caused by aerial attacks, Burma’s Air Force has continued to launch airstrikes against pro-democracy forces that have killed civilians and caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people. General Maung Maung Kyaw, who was previously the head of Burma’s Air Force and was designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 on February 22, 2021, was replaced by Htun Aung, who was previously the Air Force’s Chief of Staff, on January 12, 2022.
Htun Aung is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being or having been a leader or official of the military or security forces of Burma.
Hla Swe is an ex-military official and a former lawmaker under the military-associated Union Solidarity and Development Party who has admitted to helping to provide training and secure arms for pro-regime militias. Hla Swe is considered the man behind a pro-regime publication that regularly publishes death threats against members of minority groups.
Hla Swe is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Burma.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO BURMA’S MILITARY REGIME
Htoo Htwe Tay Za is the adult daughter of Tay Za, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 on January 31, 2022. The Tay Za family, including Htoo Htwe Tay Za, are directors and shareholders of numerous subsidiaries and associated companies of Htoo Group of Companies, which was designated pursuant to E.O 14014 on March 25, 2022, including at least one subsidiary developing properties on land leased from the Burmese military.
Htoo Htwe Tay Za is being designated for being an adult child of Tay Za, a person whose property and interest in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014.
On January 26, 2022, the U.S. government issued a business advisory to inform the public of the heightened risks associated with doing business in Burma, “Risks and Considerations for Businesses and Individuals with Exposure to Entities Responsible for Undermining Democratic Processes, Facilitating Corruption, and Committing Human Rights Abuses in Burma (Myanmar).”
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the persons named above that are in the United States, or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please refer to OFAC’s website..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of the Treasury (USA)
Date of publication:
2023-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The UK announced sanctions to increase pressure on the Myanmar military junta, coinciding with the 2-year anniversary of the coup that ousted an elected government.
Description:
"UK announces further round of sanctions to ratchet up pressure on Myanmar military junta
announced ahead of 2-year anniversary of 1 February coup
sanctions target enablers of air force bombing campaign and repression of the civilian population
Companies supplying the Myanmar Air Force with the aviation fuel to carry out its relentless bombing campaign against innocent people have been targeted by the UK in the latest round of sanctions, announced to coincide with the second anniversary of the brutal coup that ousted Myanmar’s elected government.
Two companies and 2 individuals, all associated with what is known as the Asia Sun group, and integral to the aviation fuel industry in Myanmar, have been sanctioned. The group supplies fuel to the Myanmar Air Force enabling its barbaric air raiding campaign in an attempt to maintain power, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of Myanmar’s people in the process.
The first of February 2023 marks 2 years since the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically-elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and installed a military regime. Since then, they have used violence and atrocities to maintain power and supress any opposition voices.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:
Our sanctions are meticulously targeted to deliver maximum impact, reducing the military’s access to finance, fuel, arms and equipment.
The junta must be held to account for their brutal crackdown on opposition voices, terrorising air raids and brazen human rights violations.
The UK has led a strong, coordinated international response to support the people of Myanmar, their democratic demands and right to fundamental freedoms.
The UK has worked with partners including Canada, the United States and the European Union since the coup to impose coordinated and targeted sanctions against the military regime, its business interests and those who facilitate and profit from its brutal campaign.
Since the coup, the UK has now sanctioned 18 individuals and 30 entities, targeting those responsible for the coup, the subsequent violence, and those facilitating it. These sanctions raise the cost for those aligned with and supporting the regime’s campaign of terror. The UK will continue to use economic statecraft to restrict the military’s access to finance and arms and increase the pressure on them to engage with calls for a return to democracy.
As part of its commitment to a free and open Indo Pacific, the UK has led the international community’s work to support a peaceful resolution in Myanmar and a return to democracy; and pushing for progress towards accountability and justice. It has also played a key role in calling on countries around the world to end the sale and transfer of arms and equipment which facilitate the military’s atrocities.
At the United Nations, the UK successfully passed a Security Council Resolution on the crisis, the first of its kind, to apply further pressure on the military junta to end its violence. It also strongly supports ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus, which demands the military immediately ceases its violence and engages in constructive dialogue with all parties..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of publication:
2023-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"An application for a criminal investigation into the activities of the NASDAQ-listed Israeli surveillance firm Cognyte Software Ltd and officials from the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been filed with Israel’s Attorney General, over the suspected aiding and abetting of crimes against humanity in Myanmar.
The application concerns Cognyte winning a tender from the state-owned Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) for a fixed data lawful interception gateway in 2020, with knowledge that it would provide the Myanmar military with capabilities to tap the calls of activists, journalists and politicians, thereby supporting the military’s international crimes. At the time, no safeguards were in place to protect the people of Myanmar from military surveillance.
The application:
argues that Cognyte and officials in Israel’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs aided and abetted crimes against humanity by supplying the Myanmar military with access to surveillance equipment knowing that the military was committing atrocity crimes;
calls for concerned individuals to be prosecuted under Israel’s Penal Code;
calls on Israeli authorities to immediately seize relevant documents from the offices of Cognyte, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to avoid the concealment of evidence and potential disruption to the investigation.
The application was filed with Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on January 2 by the advocate Eitay Mack on behalf of more than 60 Israeli citizens, among them the former speaker of the Knesset Avraham ("Avrum") Burg, prominent academics Prof. Eva Illouz, and Prof. Ruth HaCohen Pinczower, and human rights activists.
JFM calls on Israel’s Attorney General to take urgent action in response to the application.
Cognyte’s Myanmar tender was revealed in leaked documents published by Justice For Myanmar.
Since the illegal coup attempt, the junta has built up a digital arsenal that supports its crimes against humanity, which have included the murder of more than 2,700 people and the arbitrarily arrest of more than 17,200, who face widespread torture.
In its 2021 country report on human rights in Myanmar, the US State Department found that “the regime regularly monitored private electronic communications through online surveillance; there were numerous reports that the regime monitored prodemocracy supporters” and that the military bought surveillance technology before its coup attempt.
MPT is controlled by the junta, and is jointly operated by the Japanese multinationals KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation.
In addition to the complaint for a criminal investigation, a letter has been sent to Israel’s Defense Exports Controls Agency (DECA) of the Ministry of Defense demanding it immediately cancel export and marketing licences granted to Cognyte for interception equipment to Myanmar.
Cognyte, formerly Verint Systems, has a history of selling surveillance technology to notorious regimes, including South Sudan, and it has been banned from Facebook. Last month, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund decided to exclude Cognyte over human rights concerns.
Cognyte has partnered with Khine Thitsar Company Limited, a Myanmar company whose owner Justice For Myanmar recently identified as brokering the supply of arms through an associated company, Bamar Pte Ltd. Khine Thitsar updated its website in the past weeks to list Cognyte as a partner and vendor.
According to a Justice For Myanmar source, Khine Thitsar received a payment from Cognyte in October 2021, more than eight months after the military launched its coup attempt.
The application for a criminal investigation follows a similar 2018 submission by Eitay Mack into the aiding and abetting of atrocity crimes by Israelis who exported arms to Myanmar; and a 2022 application requesting a criminal investigation into corruption over Israeli arms companies’ dealings with the Myanmar broker Dr Tun Min Latt and his conglomerate, Star Sapphire Group.
Justice For Myanmar is concerned that the 2018 complaint has not yet led to a criminal investigation and calls for it to be expedited.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “The complaint filed against Cognyte and Israeli officials raise urgent questions over Israeli support for the Myanmar military’s surveillance capabilities, which it uses to commit crimes against humanity.
“Cognyte’s contract with MPT comes in the aftermath of the Myanmar military’s crime of genocide against the Rohingya, and in a context where there were no safeguards to protect the people of Myanmar from military surveillance.
“It is inexcusable that Israeli officials approved Cognyte’s business in Myanmar, which has continued following the military’s coup attempt.
“Israeli officials and those in Cognyte who have enabled the supply of arms and dual use goods to the Myanmar military, aiding and abetting international crimes, must be held accountable.
“Cognyte’s business with MPT also raises serious questions for its joint operators, KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation, who have failed to fulfil their international human rights responsibilities.
“We call on KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation to immediately end all technical and financial support to the Myanmar junta, or responsibly divest.
“Investors in Cognyte, KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation should use their leverage to pressure these companies to end support for the junta immediately, or divest.
“Governments must urgently do more to cut the junta’s access to surveillance equipment, arms and funds, including through sanctions on Khine Thitsar Company Limited, the individuals involved and all other military brokers.”
Eitay Mack, Advocate, says: “The state of Israel has played a very important role in the establishment and organisation of the Myanmar military through its military aid, which has included weapons, training and military knowledge. The Myanmar military has used these with the intention to attack the people of Myanmar in an attempt to illegally seize power.
“Until now it was known that due to a petition to the High Court of Justice and huge public and media outrage in Israel, at the beginning of 2018 Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to stop all Israeli military exports to Myanmar and all Israeli defense companies stopped their activities there. This is what was said repeatedly to journalists, Knesset members and other individuals who contacted the MOD and the MFA.
“Now, JFM managed to prove that Israel’s MOD and MFA have lied, and again prioritised their interests with the Myanmar military over international law and any sense of morality.
“The danger is not theoretical. Cognyte's interception system could help the military’s manhunting of democracy activists and journalists. The fate of anyone in Myanmar located and arrested with the help of Cognyte's interception system would be to suffer the worst horrors.
“Cognyte didn't operate in Myanmar on its own. In order to transfer the company's system to Myanmar, it needed an export license, and even the participation of Cognyte in the tender in Myanmar required a marketing license, both from Israel’s MOD and MFA.
“This is why Cognyte and all the Israeli officials who allowed its operation in Myanmar must be brought to justice.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-01-15
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size:
207.85 KB 149.8 KB 1.54 MB 1.6 MB
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Description:
"The title of a luxury Bangkok condo and two Siam Commercial Bank passbooks belonging to the children of junta head and war criminal Min Aung Hlaing were among items confiscated during the arrest of Myanmar crony arms broker Tun Min Latt, Justice For Myanmar has revealed in a report today, based on the seizure record.
Tun Min Latt and three of his associates were arrested in dawn raids in Bangkok on September 17 and were indicted on December 13 on drug trafficking, money laundering and transnational organised crime charges.
Justice For Myanmar understands that Thai authorities have not seized the assets of Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, despite evidence linking them to Tun Min Latt’s alleged criminal activities.
The title documents for a number of properties were confiscated belonging to Tun Min Latt and associates in his network.
Among them, a four-bedroom condo in Belle Rama 9 belonging to Aung Pyae Sone, Min Aung Hlaing’s son.
Comparable condos in Belle Rama 9 are being advertised for close to US$ 1 million.
The Siam Commercial Bank passbooks belong to Khin Thiri Thet Mon, Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter.
The condo title and passbooks were in the possession of Tun Min Latt at the time of his arrest.
Min Aung Hlaing and his two children are sanctioned by the US and Canada.
The revelations come as Min Aung Hlaing has maintained a close personal relationship with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who became Prime Minister after leading a military coup in 2014. Thailand provides substantial support to the illegal junta through the purchase of natural gas.
Justice For Myanmar urges Thai authorities to seize the assets of Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon and investigate whether they have benefited from the proceeds of crime, and to block junta members, their families and enablers from accessing Thai banks and purchasing assets in Thailand.
Justice Myanmar calls on Thai banks to close accounts held by junta members, cronies and their families sanctioned in other jurisdictions.
Justice For Myanmar further calls on governments to urgently sanction financial enablers of the junta to cut its access to funds and block opportunities for generals and their families to profit from the illegal coup attempt and steal public assets from the people of Myanmar.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “The fact that Min Aung Hlaing’s children’s assets were in the possession of an international criminal should be a wake-up call to the Thai government and international community.
“Justice For Myanmar urges Thai authorities to seize Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon’s assets and investigate whether they have benefited from the proceeds of Tun Min Latt’s alleged money laundering and drug trafficking and to hold them accountable for any violations of Thai law.
“The Myanmar military junta is both a terrorist organisation and a transnational criminal enterprise, working in partnership with criminal enablers like Tun Min Latt, who co-own a military-owned casino and has brokered arms while committing his alleged criminal activities.
“While the junta continues waging its campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar, the families of junta members are hiding their stolen assets offshore, as they benefit from the military’s genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Thailand and other governments must urgently block the transfer of stolen assets from Myanmar and close access to the international financial system for junta members and their families, or risk complicity in the junta’s international crimes and corruption.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-1-11
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Political History
Language:
Format :
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Size:
141.19 KB 89.02 KB
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"Six civil society organizations that work on business and human rights sent a letter dated September 30, 2022 to 160 major investors in MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, major Japanese banks that are investing or lending to projects that may benefit the Myanmar military, or that hold shares in companies that may be complicit in human rights violations in Myanmar. In their human rights policies, the financial groups that oversee each of the banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group, and Mizuho Financial Group, support international human rights standards such as the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and are expected to implement those standards without fail.
The letter requested that the institutions holding shares in the three banks promptly engage with the banks to take the "measures required of banks" shown in the letter, and that if the three banks do not take measures even after engagement, to consider divestment.
The recipients of the letter included multiple pension funds and mutual aid associations. So far, in addition to the Council on Ethics that manages four pension funds in Sweden that welcomed our input, we have received responses from nine institutions. One of the nine stated that it would conduct engagement, and two others said that they would utilize our request in their analyses of corporations and future engagement. However, the remaining recipients did not disclose information about specific activities including whether or not they were conducting engagement. Further, the recipients included multiple mutual aid associations for civil servants in Japan, but none of the associations even responded to our request.
In Myanmar, the military continues to commit international crimes such as the murder of people including children, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced disappearance, and torture. Investors may be complicit if they neglect the fact that they hold shares in and receive dividends from companies that are funding these crimes. We strongly urge investors to take action towards improving the human rights situation in Myanmar, in accordance with their international human rights responsibilities.
Please refer to the letter linked below for further details.
[English] "Call for Engagement to Urge Banks to Take Measures to Stop the Flow of Funds to the Myanmar Military," dated September 30, 2022, sent to 160 institutional investors holding shares in MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, or Mizuho Bank..."
Source/publisher:
Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth Japan, Justice For Myanmar, Network Against Japan Arms Trade, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation and Japan International Volunteer Center
Date of publication:
2023-01-08
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-08
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Individual Documents
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Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Six civil society organizations that work on business and human rights sent a letter dated September 30, 2022 to 160 major investors in MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, major Japanese banks that are investing or lending to projects that may benefit the Myanmar military, or that hold shares in companies that may be complicit in human rights violations in Myanmar. In their human rights policies, the financial groups that oversee each of the banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group, and Mizuho Financial Group, support international human rights standards such as the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and are expected to implement those standards without fail.
The letter requested that the institutions holding shares in the three banks promptly engage with the banks to take the "measures required of banks" shown in the letter, and that if the three banks do not take measures even after engagement, to consider divestment.
The recipients of the letter included multiple pension funds and mutual aid associations. So far, in addition to the Council on Ethics that manages four pension funds in Sweden that welcomed our input, we have received responses from nine institutions. One of the nine stated that it would conduct engagement, and two others said that they would utilize our request in their analyses of corporations and future engagement. However, the remaining recipients did not disclose information about specific activities including whether or not they were conducting engagement. Further, the recipients included multiple mutual aid associations for civil servants in Japan, but none of the associations even responded to our request.
In Myanmar, the military continues to commit international crimes such as the murder of people including children, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced disappearance, and torture. Investors may be complicit if they neglect the fact that they hold shares in and receive dividends from companies that are funding these crimes. We strongly urge investors to take action towards improving the human rights situation in Myanmar, in accordance with their international human rights responsibilities.
Please refer to the letter linked below for further details.
[English] "Call for Engagement to Urge Banks to Take Measures to Stop the Flow of Funds to the Myanmar Military," dated September 30, 2022, sent to 160 institutional investors holding shares in MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, or Mizuho Bank..."
Source/publisher:
Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth Japan, Justice For Myanmar, Network Against Japan Arms Trade, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation and Japan International Volunteer Center
Date of publication:
2023-01-06
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-06
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Individual Documents
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"The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group is divesting from Yoma Bank, Justice For Myanmar has confirmed through a source with knowledge of the transaction.
IFC owns 4.5% of Yoma Bank and is selling all its shares to First Myanmar Investment (FMI) for US$5 million, which equals the value IFC used to convert its 2014 loan to equity, which it completed in 2019.
IFC signed a share sales agreement with FMI and Yoma Bank on December 12, 2022.
The IFC’s divestment comes amid the Spring Revolution, with mass pressure from the people of Myanmar for companies to cut ties with the junta and its conglomerates. Yoma Bank has a record of doing business with the military and its conglomerates, which stand accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In 2020, Yoma Bank gave a loan to Pinnacle Asia, a Myanmar company owned by Khin Thiri Thet Mon, daughter of military chief and war criminal Min Aung Hlaing. The loan supported the company to build towers for the military-owned mobile operator, Mytel.
Last month, Justice For Myanmar disclosed that as of March 2022, Yoma Bank held over $10 million in a US dollar account for Telecom International Myanmar, the owner of Mytel.
Also in November, a release of records from the military owned Innwa Bank by Distributed Denial of Secrets exposed over 200 transactions with Yoma Bank. Innwa Bank’s parent company, Myanmar Economic Corporation, is sanctioned by the US, EU, UK and Canada.
Last month, the Australian bank ANZ announced it is exiting Myanmar after its transactions with Innwa Bank were exposed.
Yoma Bank is controlled by FMI, a holding company listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange. It is led by Serge Pun and backed by major international investors.
Greenwood Capital, an affiliate of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, owns 19.7% of Yoma Bank. The Norwegian development finance institution, Norfund, owns 10.6%.
FMI is buying out IFC’s shares through a transaction with Pun Holdings (HK) Limited, a holding company in Hong Kong.
Justice For Myanmar calls on Yoma Bank’s remaining international investors, Norfund and GIC, to use their leverage to stop the bank’s business with the military junta, its conglomerates and partners or responsibly divest, in accordance with their international human rights obligations.
IFC did not respond to questions from Justice For Myanmar regarding responsible disengagement from Yoma Bank.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: "IFC’s divestment from Yoma Bank is a positive step if it cannot prevent the bank from doing business with the Myanmar military, which is waging a war of terror against the people of Myanmar.
“We urge IFC to responsibly disengage from Yoma Bank, in consultation with the National Unity Government, which is the legitimate government of Myanmar.
“IFC should be transparent over their divestment plans, human rights due diligence and any attempts they made to prevent Yoma Bank’s business with the junta and its conglomerates.
“IFC acquired equity in Yoma Bank following the Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign of genocide against the Rohingya, and should have done its due diligence at the time on the bank’s support for the Myanmar military, its businesses and associates.
“The fact that IFC failed to prevent Yoma Bank’s support for military businesses and Min Aung Hlaing’s own family suggests serious human rights failings that requires investigation and rectification if IFC plans to continue operating in Myanmar.
“IFC also must also stop renting an office in Sule Square, a development on land leased from the US sanctioned Quarter Master General Office, and end any remaining business with the junta, its conglomerates and partners.
“We call on Yoma Bank’s remaining international investors, Norfund and GIC, to ensure Yoma Bank cuts all ties with the Myanmar junta, its businesses and partners or responsibly divest, in accordance with their international human rights responsibilities.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-12-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-12-20
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"Burma Campaign UK today called on the Qatari government, currently hosting the football world cup, to stop allowing cargo vessels owned by the Burmese military to dock at ports in Qatar.
Cargo vessel U Thar is owned by Myanma Five Star Line, which in turn is owned by the Burmese military-owned conglomerate Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. It is currently docked at state-owned Hamad port in Qatar.
Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd has been sanctioned by the UK, USA, Canada, and EU because of its role in funding the Burmese military, and thereby helping to fund the human rights violations they commit.
At the United Nations, Qatar has supported resolutions calling for an end to human rights violations by the Burmese military. As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Qatar has supported the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
“By allowing Burmese military-owned vessels to use Qatari ports, Qatar is helping the Burmese military to raise funds to commit the human rights violations which Qatar condemns,” said Mark Farmaner, Director at Burma Campaign UK. “It is not consistent for Qatar to condemn human rights violations by the Burmese military but do business with them at the same time. Qatar must ban the Burmese military from using its ports.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-11-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-11-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Yoma Bank is providing banking services to Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited, the operator of the Myanmar military’s Mytel mobile network.
As of March 2022, Yoma Bank held over $10 million in a US dollar account for the company, Justice For Myanmar has confirmed.
Yoma is a Myanmar bank controlled by FMI, a holding company listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange. It is led by Serge Pun and backed by major international investors.
Greenwood Capital, an affiliate of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, owns 19.7% of Yoma Bank. The Norwegian development finance institution Norfund owns 10.6%. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group owns 4.5%.
Telecom International Myanmar is a joint venture of the miliary conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which is sanctioned by the US, UK, EU and Canada. Other Mytel shareholders are Viettel Global Investment of Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence, and Myanmar National Telecom Holdings, an investment vehicle for Myanmar cronies.
Mytel is incredibly lucrative. Myanmar’s generals benefit through access to Vietnamese investment and technology, and future profits. Justice For Myanmar estimates that Mytel’s Myanmar military owners are projected to earn more than US$700 million in a decade from Mytel’s fifth year of operation.
Mytel also provides the Myanmar military leadership with capabilities for surveillance of troops and the public.
The Myanmar army’s signals directorate is operationally linked to Mytel and the mobile network uses and maintains the military’s network of fibre optic cables. Mytel operates towers on military bases, which are likely used to supplement military communications.
Transaction records from the MEC-owned Innwa Bank, recently released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, revealedmore than 200 transactions with Yoma Bank, including transactions with MEC.
In 2020, Yoma Bank issued a loan to Pinnacle Asia, a tower company co-owned by Khin Thiri Thet Mon, daughter of military chief and war criminal Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The loan supported Pinnacle Asia to build towers for Mytel.
After Justice For Myanmar exposed the Yoma Bank loan to Pinnacle Asia, Norfund spokesperson Ylva Lindberg told Bistandsaktuelt that Yoma Bank will now use the UN Fact-Finding Mission as part of its standard background checks. However, she went on to say that “the military in Myanmar has a very extensive role in society and business, which makes it a demanding exercise to set a limit for indirect connections to the military… It is difficult to draw a clear line for how far the responsibility extends.”
Telecom International Myanmar was identified by the UN Fact-Finding Mission as a military business, yet it has remained a Yoma Bank customer.
After the latest revelations, Norfund told Bistandsaktuelt that, according to Yoma Bank, it cannot block transactions between its customers and Innwa Bank unless those accounts are blacklisted by the junta’s central bank, and that Yoma Bank cannot deny accounts to companies.
As the Myanmar junta’s war of terror intensifies, Justice For Myanmar calls on Yoma Bank and its investors to immediately end its business with Telecom International Myanmar and all other companies owned by the Myanmar military, which stands accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: "Mytel is a strategic resource of the illegal Myanmar military junta and the company aids and abets the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“By providing banking services to Mytel, Yoma Bank is supporting its international law violations.
“Norfund, IFC and GIC have been warned about Yoma Bank's business with the Myanmar military and its associates, yet Yoma Bank’s business with the Myanmar military is continuing.
“If Norfund, IFC and GIC cannot stop their investee, Yoma Bank, from providing services to Mytel and transacting with Innwa Bank, then they should responsibly divest, in accordance with their international human rights responsibilities."..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-11-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-11-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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"Justice For Myanmar cautiously welcomes ANZ’s announcement that they will exit Myanmar by early 2023.
ANZ will be the first international bank to leave Myanmar and its decision follows the blacklisting of Myanmar by the FATF.
Earlier this month, Justice For Myanmar exposed ANZ transactions with Innwa Bank, a subsidiary of the military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), found in data released by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
MEC and Innwa Bank are sanctioned by the US, UK, EU and Canada.
ANZ has also facilitated payments from its customers to the military junta.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We cautiously welcome ANZ’s decision to leave Myanmar and call on them to responsibly exit.
“This must involve mitigating and remedying the impact on their staff and ensuring that they repatriate all funds so they do not leave a windfall for the terrorist military junta.
“Since the military’s illegal attempted coup, ANZ has transacted with the US, UK and EU sanctioned Innwa Bank and facilitated customer payments to the military junta, enabled by the refusal of the Australian government to sanction the junta and its businesses.
"The Australian government's appalling inaction in response to the crisis in Myanmar undermines its democratic values and international obligations.
“We call on the Australian government to support the people of Myanmar and take a clear stand for democracy and human rights by sanctioning the illegal junta and its businesses.
“ANZ is the first international bank to leave Myanmar and their planned exit is another sign of the destruction the junta is causing to Myanmar’s economy through the military’s coup attempt, war of terror and proliferation of illicit business activities under control of or profiting the military and its associates.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-11-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-11-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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106.97 KB
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Sub-title:
The US $3.8 billion accounts for more than two-thirds of foreign investment.
Description:
"Myanmar has raked in $3.8 billion in foreign investment in the nation’s key energy sector as key Asian oil firms continue to do business with the military regime despite efforts to reduce cash flows to the junta since the February 2021 coup.
Earlier this month, independent research group the Institute for Strategy and Policy (Myanmar) reported that the junta had attracted U.S. $3.8 billion to Myanmar’s energy sector between its Feb. 1, 2021, takeover and Oct. 30, 2022, or nearly 68% of all foreign investment over the same period.
The report was based on numbers provided by the junta’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration and comes despite a concerted effort by Western governments to cut off funding to the military regime through sanctions, citing its role in violence that has claimed the lives of at least 2,525 civilians since the coup.
It’s a substantial cash infusion for the junta, which observers expected would be starved of money 20 months after seizing power as foreign companies fled political turmoil and economic mismanagement by the regime. Since December, five major players in the country’s energy sector have announced their departure, including France’s Total, U.S.-based Chevron, Australia’s Woodside, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Malaysia’s Petronas.
However, Soe Thura Tun, minister of energy and electricity for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, questioned the accuracy of the junta’s numbers, which he said only accounted for the total amount of investment without addressing losses incurred from foreign companies leaving the country.
“The reality is that $1 billion came in as new investment while $1 billion of old investment pulled out,” he said.
“But the junta won’t include loss of investment in its calculations and showed only the total figure. I don’t believe that they have as much investment as they claim.”
‘Selfish opportunists’ ignore crisis
Despite the departures since December, companies such as Thailand’s PTTEP, South Korea’s POSCO, India-based ONGC, Nippon Oil of Japan and China-owned CNPC continue to operate in Myanmar and have become the major players in the country’s energy sector, expanding their presence to make up for the gaps.
Soe Thura Tun said that the shadow government is working with the international organizations to cut off that energy sector revenue and other sources of income, which rights groups allege is being used by the junta to crack down on pro-democracy civilians.
The junta, meanwhile, has ignored calls to seek a political compromise, prompting condemnation and sanctions from the global community.
Ko Ye, spokesman for the Blood Money Campaign, which seeks to shut down junta access to foreign income and international business, told RFA that the kind of foreign investment that has entered since the coup is “not good … for countries like Myanmar.”
“This kind of investment at this time of chaos in our country is the work of selfish opportunists,” he said. “Reputable and unbiased investments are hard to come by these days.”
According to Ko Ye, much of the new investment obtained by the junta in 2022 involved fuel, including for aircraft, and electricity production.
The National Unity Government and NGOs such as Blood Money Campaign estimate that as much as 50% of Myanmar’s total revenue comes from the energy and oil and gas sectors, and despite their efforts to reduce how much of that flows to the junta, they have a long way to go.
Junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun acknowledged in May that while energy sector production had seen a “pause” as the result of foreign investment withdrawals, Russia was expected to make up the difference with investments of its own “in the near future.”
Russia, China and ASEAN
A Myanmar-based economist, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said that while Western sanctions have been effective, China, Russia, and some of Myanmar’s fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states are continuing to prop up the regime with foreign investment.
“The NUG’s attempts to cut off the junta’s sources of income won’t have much of an impact on Russia and China, because those counties have always supported the military regime,” they said.
Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, said Myanmar’s neighboring nations should know how the junta rule has impacted the country more than most.
“We are dealing with selfish neighbors that prioritize their national interest above anything else,” he said.
“That’s why we have seen oil and gas companies from Thailand replace western corporations that pulled out, such as Chevron and Total Energy.”
Myanmar’s Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, which is estimated to generate U.S. $1.5 billion in annual revenues – or half the country’s foreign currency reserves – signed a deal with Thailand’s PTTEP in August 2014 to cooperate on U.S. $72 billion-worth of energy projects.
Last week, the Blood Money Campaign issued a statement urging Thailand, which recently hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, to stop investing in Myanmar’s energy sector..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-11-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-11-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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Description:
"Six civil society organizations that work on business and human rights sent a letter dated September 30, 2022 to 160 major investors in three major Japanese banks (MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank) that are investing or lending to projects that may benefit the Myanmar military, or that hold shares in Japanese companies that may be complicit in human rights violations in Myanmar. The letter urges the investors to engage with the banks.
Since the Myanmar military attempted a coup d'etat in February 2021, we have pointed out that some of the Japanese companies investing in projects in Myanmar may be complicit in human rights violations by the Myanmar military through business operations benefiting the military. Through letters of request and meetings, we have also asked these companies to act in accordance with their human rights policies and international human rights responsibilities. There is a strong concern that if these business operations continue or are conducted as planned, they will provide a source of funds for the Myanmar military, thereby facilitating the military’s international crimes, which include the murder of citizens, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced disappearance, and torture.
In their human rights policies, the financial groups that oversee each of the banks (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group, and Mizuho Financial Group) publicly state that they will follow and implement international human rights standards such as the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The letter requests that the institutions holding shares in the three banks promptly engage with the banks to take the "measures required of banks" shown in the letter, and that if the three banks do not take measures even after engagement, to consider divestment..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-10-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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211.81 KB 55.86 KB
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"CSW is calling on the Council of the European Union (EU) to introduce a fifth round of sanctions against the Myanmar/Burma military, with a particular focus on arms sales.
The EU has introduced four rounds of sanctions against the Myanmar army and its enterprises, and notably took the lead in sanctioning Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in February 2021. However, the EU’s last round of sanctions was over seven months ago, during which time Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have initiated new rounds of sanctions.
In a letter dated 29 September, signed by CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas, and addressed to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and the Foreign Ministers of the EU member states, CSW urges the recipients to “expedite the introduction of new sanctions, targeting the sources of arms, equipment, and revenue of the Myanmar military.”
Since the February 2021 coup, the military junta’s increasing use of airstrikes against civilians and civilian structures has been a major driver of displacement, occasioning a humanitarian crisis.
In its letter, CSW contends that limiting the military’s access to parts, ammunition, and aviation fuel could assist in reducing its ability to wage war on civilians from the air, and by extension save lives. The letter suggests that targets for additional sanctions should include “the numerous arms brokers exposed by the advocacy group Justice for Myanmar.”
CSW Senior Analyst for East Asia Benedict Rogers said: “Since the coup in February 2021, the people of Myanmar have suffered crimes against humanity, violations of human rights and humanitarian law, and war crimes. We commend the EU for its first four rounds of sanctions. However, seven months after last the round, it is beginning to fall behind its allies, and is missing vital opportunities to further obstruct the military’s ability to continue its brutal campaign against civilians. By acting swiftly to sanction arms brokers highlighted by Justice for Myanmar, the EU will assist in saving civilians lives.”..."
Source/publisher:
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Date of publication:
2022-09-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
EU must introduce a new round of sanctions against the Myanmar military
Description:
"Your Excellencies will be aware of the horrific human rights violations that have taken place in Myanmar since the military coup last year.
Severe violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, are occurring on a daily basis. More than a million people are now displaced internally, and more than 15,000 people are detained arbitrarily. Military tribunals have handed down extremely harsh verdicts, including the death sentence.
The people of Myanmar continue to resist the military junta in the face of air and ground attacks on villages, mass arrests, severe repression, and the use of the death penalty for the first time in decades. They believe that there will be no positive future for their country for as long as the military remain in power, and have been calling for international action to cut off the supply of revenue and arms to the Myanmar military.
The people’s unwavering commitment to struggle for their freedoms is being paid for with lives. However, the European Union (EU), which initially surpassed other countries in sanctioning the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), has now fallen behind in sanctioning arms brokers.
The military junta is currently using aerial bombardment on an unprecedented scale. Airstrikes are a major driver of displacement and have occasioned a humanitarian crisis. Sanctioning the suppliers of parts, ammunition, and aviation fuel alongside further revenue sources could save lives by reducing the military’s ability to wage war on civilians from the air.
It is now seven months since the EU introduced new sanctions against the Myanmar military, and there is an urgent need for further sanctions, including against the numerous arms brokers exposed by the advocacy group Justice for Myanmar.
May I, therefore, urge you to expedite the introduction of new sanctions, targeting the sources of arms, equipment, and revenue of the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Date of publication:
2022-09-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Sanctions, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Human Rights and international relations
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"20 September 2022, London, UK - The European Union must push further actions against the Burmese military and its interests. The EU led the way in sanctioning Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, but further action is required as the junta continues a campaign of rape, murder, and widespread destruction. BHRN calls on EU members, particularly France and Germany, to push for further sanctions to undermine the junta’s access to funds, weapons, and legitimacy.
“The EU’s sanctions on MOGE were a tremendous help in bringing the world together to stop the genocidal rampage of the Burmese military, but seven months have passed since the EU has issued any new sanctions. In that time, the military has only become more brazen in disregarding human dignity and rights. The attacks in the Sagaing Region have increased steadily, and murder and rape by junta soldiers are now common. The junta feels the pressure of being sanctioned, but they are fighting desperately to cling to power. We cannot let them win,” said BHRN’s Executive Director, Kyaw Win.
Fighting between the junta and democratic forces has spread throughout the country, and the military is struggling to maintain control. The junta is using its most inhumane tactics to reclaim territory and snuff out resistance. A democratic Burma remains possible, and the least the international community can do to help is to deprive the Burmese military of the money and weapons they use to terrorise the population.
BHRN calls on the European Union to take further steps to sanction the business interests of the Burmese military and its leaders, cut off Burma’s access to weapons, deny the junta any credibility internationally, and create a path of justice and accountability. While doing this, the international community, including the EU, must make greater efforts to support the National Unity Government and civil society organisations inside of Burma. The EU must also hold the NUG accountable for implementing a plan allowing full human rights and citizenship for all of Burma’s ethnics and religious minorities.
Organisation’s Background
BHRN is based in London and operates across Burma/Myanmar working for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in the country. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication:
2022-09-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Qatari telecom Ooredoo’s operation in Myanmar is now de facto owned by Zaw Win Shein, a military crony and the adopted son of a general who served as a minister in the military proxy Thein Sein administration, which ran Myanmar from 2011 to early 2016.
Ooredoo Group announced on Sept. 8 the sale of its telecom business in Myanmar to Nine Communications Pte. Ltd. at an enterprise value of US$576 million.
Nine Communications is a Singapore-based subsidiary of Link Family Office and Nyan Win.
While details about Link Family Office are unknown, according to data from the Directorate of Investment and Company Registration, Nyan Win is a director of Horizon Telecom International Company Limited based in Myanmar. Two other directors of that telecom company are Ne Ne Hlawn Moe and Ye Myat Soe.
Ne Ne Hlwam Moe is the managing director of Ayeyar Hinthar Construction Co. Ltd, and Ye Myat Soe, who has been the CEO of Horizon Telecom, is also the managing director of A Bank.
A Bank and Ayeyar Hinthar Construction are businesses of Ayeyar Hinthar Holdings Company Limited, which is owned by Zaw Win Shein, according to the companies’ websites.
Zaw Win Shein is an adoptive son of Soe Maung, who was a key President’s Office minister when the military proxy Thein Sein administration was in power. Soe Maung is a retired major general and also a former judge advocate-general.
The Thein Sein government was replaced by a civilian government led by the NLD in 2016. Soe Maung founded the Democratic Party of National Politics (DNP) in 2019 with other retired generals and contested in the 2020 general election. He was also a close confidant of former military regime leader Than Shwe and a member of the military commission that drafted the 2008 Constitution.
According to business circles familiar with Zaw Win Shein and his conglomerate, Ayeyar Hinthar group’s capital mainly came from Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is a former general and vice president during the Thein Sein administration; when the group was established in 2006, it was widely reported to be an asset of Naing Lin Oo, a former military captain who is the son of Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo. An executive committee member of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry confirmed this. Naing Lin Oo and his wife Hnin Yee Mon are on a UK list of financial sanctions.
When the country entered a so-called democratic transition after a quasi-civilian government emerged in 2011, the transparency of the private sector was promoted and Ayeyar Hinthar group became Ayeyar Hinthar Holding. It is known as a conglomerate owned and operated by crony Zaw Win Shein.
Some of the leading businesspeople in Myanmar wondered how a conglomerate owned by Zaw Win Shein can afford half of a billion dollars to buy a telecom operator like Ooredoo during such a chaotic time, and suspected there could be unknown and/or invisible investors behind him.
“It is very risky to invest in such a big telecom during these days of economic decline. There might be some other investors behind it, even if it is publicly and officially bought by Ayeyar Hinthar,” said a businessman who is also a chair of a group of companies in Myanmar’s automobile industry.
The Ayeyar Hinthar group has engaged in several businesses with the Myanmar military. In one notorious example, it acts as a proxy company for the military at the Y Complex project in Yangon.
The Y Complex is built on land belonging to the Myanmar military, and, according to a copy of the lease revealed to the public by Justice for Myanmar, the money for the rent flows to the Quartermaster General’s office via a proxy company.
On March 20, 2021, French energy giant Électricité de France (EDF) suspended a hydropower project worth more than $1.5 billion in Myanmar’s Shan State over human rights concerns as the military regime continues to use lethal force to crack down on anti-coup protesters across the country then.
Électricité de France notified human rights groups that it has halted development of the Shweli-3 Project, including the activities of its subcontractors. Led by EDF, the 671 MW project was being jointly developed with a Japanese company and locally owned Ayeyar Hinthar.
“Now, Myanmar citizens have no choice at all as all the operators here in the country are owned or are still fully or de facto managed by the military regime, and also now, there is no operator too who would defend our rights to privacy,” said a female poet activist who has also been working for digital freedom..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The junta’s gross mismanagement makes it even more unpopular amid currency, trade and banking chaos.
Description:
"Sept. 7 marked the first anniversary of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar’s declaration of a defensive war against the military. Few at the time gave them much hope against a well-armed and brutal military that had ruled the country for all but seven of the past 60 years. But 19 months after the coup, Myanmar’s military is mired in a multi-front war and losing ground. Yet, the junta’s greatest vulnerability is the imploding economy.
The junta’s battlefield losses are real. The military is fighting with diminishing resources against a surprisingly durable alliance of the NUG, some 275 People’s Defense Force paramilitary groups under its chain of command, and several ethnic resistance organizations. There were more than 6,600 individual clashes in the past year.
A new report by the Special Advisory Council, a panel of former U.N. experts, contends that the junta only has effective control over 17% of the country, while the NUG and its allies control 52%. The remainder is contested space, and often the target of indiscriminate shelling against civilian communities and arson which has so far destroyed about 28,000 homes.
In addition, hostilities between junta forces and the well-armed Arakan Army, which has not formally aligned itself with the NUG, are escalating, putting more strain on the military.
The NUG has stepped up its attacks in cities, including bombings and the targeted assassination of military regime officials and their cronies. These attacks undermine the assertions of stability and normalcy from the State Administration Council (SAC), as the junta is formally known, to an urban population unaccustomed to war.
Estimates of junta casualties vary. The NUG says, perhaps optimistically, that 20,000 junta troops have been killed with an unknown number of wounded. (Conventional estimates are that the number of wounded are three times the number of killed in action). Others put the toll much lower, but it’s clear the military is suffering significant losses. It is also facing defections and desertions, while the NUG and allies are capturing more military personnel.
The military continues to wage its “four cuts” strategy, a doctrine based on terrorizing the population into submission. The NUG acknowledges that it has lost some 1,500 resistance fighters and 2,200 civilians in the year; both numbers are probably low estimates.
Yet the military has been unable to cow the civilian population into submission. The civil disobedience movement has continued, with daily protests breaking out across the country.
An Economy in Freefall
While the battlefield situation should concern the military, a greater worry should be the free fall in the economy.
The GDP contracted by 18% in 2021 and estimates for 2022, including the World Bank’s forecast of 3% growth, are overly optimistic.
Inflation was 14% in mid-2022 and is now over 18%, with rice prices up 35-50% and gas prices spiking amid shortages. This, of course, impacts production as many firms rely on generators due to electricity shortages. The International Monetary Fund estimates that 1.6 million jobs were lost in 2022, around 7 percent of the workforce. Forty percent of the population is now living under the poverty line.
The currency lost 60% of its value against the dollar in 2022. The kyat briefly traded at a record low, below 4,000 kyat to the U.S. dollar, while the official conversion rate is 2,100.
So what’s causing the collapse of the kyat?
First is the demand for foreign exchange, which is in very short supply. Indeed, the government issued regulations compelling businesses to sell their foreign exchange to the government at official rates.
Everyone is hoarding foreign exchange and gold, which is now trading at record highs. In September, the government announced the sale of some of its gold reserves to help stabilize prices.
The shortage of foreign exchange is so desperate that in July the Myanmar Central Bank issued orders to companies to stop servicing their $1.2 billion in foreign debts or renegotiate their repayment terms, which will have long-term ramifications for the country’s economic development.
Second is that exports, apart from monthly rents on oil and natural gas, have dried up, including border trade with China. That said, the state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise is still collecting $800 million per quarter in gas export revenues alone. The pipelines to China and Thailand account for 10% of government revenue. This remains the junta’s financial
lifeline.
Third is that the Myanmar Central Bank is burning through its reserves. Prior to the coup it had $7.67 billion in reserves. Today, the junta claims $6 billion, an overestimate that also includes the $1.1 billion frozen by the United States.
Fourth is that according to the Nikkei Asian Review, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force is about to put Myanmar on its money laundering blacklist. Only two other states, Iran and North Korea, are on the blacklist. This is the international financial community labeling the SAC as a criminal enterprise, incapable of conducting any financial oversight.
While this does not prevent international businesses from doing business in Myanmar, it adds very onerous reporting requirements for every financial transaction. That alone will deter businesses, including Japanese, South Korean, Singaporean, and Thai firms that have continued to do business with the junta.
The fifth point to keep in mind is that the collapse of the kyat is ultimately about rock-bottom confidence in the military-run administration because of its incompetence. The SAC has moved to consolidate full authority over the central bank. In July, it deployed six lieutenant colonels to oversee operations. The SAC recently replaced the bank’s top leadership with
sycophants. The new chairman survived an assassination attempt in April following the imposition of currency controls, while her deputy served as the Tatmadaw’s chief financial officer.
The country’s banking system is on the ropes. The junta has placed officers in all banks to monitor transactions to make sure funds aren’t making their way to the NUG or the civil disobedience movement. To that end, the SAC impeded the country’s burgeoning mobile banking market, causing irreparable harm, especially to farmers and local merchants.
The dearth of capital needed to carry farmers through the growing season compounds the real problem in the agricultural sector, which is that the lack of foreign exchange has curtailed the import of vital fertilizers and pesticides. The goal of doubling agricultural exports from 2 million tons by 2025 is beyond reach.
The junta’s own Internal Revenue Department acknowledged a 35% decline in revenue in 2021 over the previous year. That is 4.745 trillion kyat ($2.657 billion) in revenue, down from 7.296 trillion kyat ($4.086 billion), due to tax boycotts and a contracted economy.
It’s also worth noting that the military’s two conglomerates, which control more than 100 different companies that dominate Myanmar’s economy, are reeling from sanctions and domestic boycotts. Though we don’t know the extent of losses, the two firms never paid dividends to their “shareholders” (soldiers compelled to buy shares each month based on their rank) in 2021
and are unlikely to do so in 2022.
Major foreign investments, such as the telecoms firm Mytel, a joint venture with the Vietnamese military, are routinely targeted in both bombings and assassination attempts.
So while the military’s fighting force is being hollowed out in clashes and guerrilla attacks across Myanmar, its economic base of support is also under threat. The SAC’s gross mismanagement will allow the NUG to peel away military supporters who see the junta’s economic stewardship as irredeemable. Only a democratically elected government, with the rule of
law and empowered technocrats, will be able to protect their economic interests..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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"Myanmar regime’s sale of gold coins is not bringing down the gold price as they are being sold too near the market rate, according to dealers.
On Monday the junta started selling gold coins at a gems emporium in Naypyitaw for 2.95 million kyats per tical (16 grams) while the market price is around 3 million kyats.
On Tuesday, the market price reached 3.15 million kyats and was around 3.12 million kyats on Wednesday.
A trader said: “If they sell at a price lower than the market rate, traders would buy and sell their gold at a lower rate. But as they are selling near the market price, gold prices have gone up. The policy is not working.”
The gold price has risen as citizens have bought gold as the kyat slumped because since the military coup in February 2021. In January 2021 the gold price was slightly over 1.3 million kyats per tical and the exchange rate was around 1,300 kyats per dollar.
The regime announced last week that it would sell gold coins to the public to bring down rising prices.
The regime is selling one tical coin per person. Buyers have to present their ID cards. The regime did not say how many gold coins were being sold.
Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told the media that the coins would be sold at international prices and that they were not from the country’s gold reserve. He said the regime would sell enough gold to affect the domestic market.
The gold price quoted by the Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association on Wednesday was 1.98 million kyats per tical at the official exchange rate of 2,100 kyats per dollar. The market exchange rate is around 3,600 kyats.
The international gold price is approximately US$1,695 per ounce (28 grams).
The coins show independence hero General Aung San, the father of jailed State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, minted in 2018 under her National League for Democracy government.
Gold coins are only being sold in Naypyitaw with no dates announced for sales in Yangon and Mandalay..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-09-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar
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"Myanmar has begun buying petroleum products from Russia and is expecting the delivery of diesel fuel in the coming days, the Southeast Asian country’s military leader said Wednesday.
Senior general Min Aung Hlaing shared the news on his second visit to Russia in less than two months as both isolated countries seek to deepen ties in the face of international sanctions.
“Deliveries of petroleum products from Russia to Myanmar are already underway successfully,” Min Aung Hlaing told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
“We will receive the first shipment of diesel fuel from Russia in a few days,” he said, noting that Mynmar is ready to pay for supplies in Russian rubles.
“Whatever currency the Russian side accepts, that’s what we’ll pay. This makes it much easier for us because there are a lot of restrictions on receiving and transferring in other currencies,” Min Aung Hlaing said.
Min Aung Hlaing reprtedly agreed to import petrol from Russia during his last trip to Russia in July.
Myanmar has resorted to fuel oil imports after petrol prices surged and the country was hit by shortages.
Russia is meanwhile seeking new export destinations for its energy exports amid Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is a major ally and arms supplier of the Myanmar military.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Min Aung Hlaing met President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in the port city of Vladivostok..."
Source/publisher:
"The Moscow Times"
Date of publication:
2022-09-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Burma's economic relations with Russia
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"Mekong Watch
Friends of the Earth Japan
Justice For Myanmar
Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)
ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation
Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
Human Rights Now
Eight civil society organizations that are deeply concerned about business relationships that Japanese companies have with the Myanmar military sent a letter dated May 24, 2022 to 101 corporate investors holding shares in Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. or Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. regarding a real estate development project in Yangon (commonly known as “Y Complex”) being implemented by the two companies. The letter pointed out that Tokyo Tatemono and Daiwa House Industry may be complicit in grave human rights abuses by the Myanmar military, and asked that the two companies take measures to ensure that Y Complex does not benefit the military. The letter further asked the corporate investors to consider divestment if the companies did not take sufficient measures.
In response, eight corporate investors have sent substantive replies to date, including one that stated that it engaged with the company concerned after receiving our letter. Two investors stated that they would consider engaging with the companies. However, the other five sent replies that did not correspond to our request, such as an explanation of their own human rights policies, and did not disclose the details of their efforts, including whether they engaged with the two companies.
The project company, Y Complex Company Ltd., is a Myanmar corporation. 80% of the shares are owned by Yangon Museum Development Pte. Ltd. (YMD), a Singaporean corporation, and 20% by Yangon Technical and Trading Company Ltd. (YTT), a Myanmar corporation. YMD was jointly set up by Tokyo Tatemono, Fujita Corporation (a subsidiary of Daiwa House Industry), and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN). Investment and debt guarantee by JOIN, a government-funded infrastructure investment corporation, as well as a loan from the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), signify that Japan’s public funds are being invested in the project. The project is being implemented on military-owned land on a sublease, under a build-operate-transfer agreement, and land lease payments are made to the Office of the Quarter Master General. The Office of the Quarter Master General is responsible for procurement for the Myanmar military, and land rent payments to the Office of the Quarter Master General may fund the Myanmar military’s international crimes and grave human rights violations such as the killing of citizens, wrongful arrest, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced disappearance, and torture. The US, UK, and Canada have imposed sanctions on the Office of the Quarter Master General.
According to what is reportedly an official Myanmar document, the land lease payment is about two million USD per year (about 230 million JPY), to be paid for the contract period of 50 years. As of April 2022, payments apparently have not been made since the attempted coup, but neither Tokyo Tatemono nor Daiwa House Industry has given concrete answers to concerns expressed by civil society about serious human rights abuses, and they have not withdrawn from the project.
In Myanmar, violence by the military is only escalating. A pro-democracy activist and a former member of parliament, among others, had been given “death sentences'' by a military court organized by the illegitimate junta, and in late July, it was reported that the sentences were carried out. There is strong criticism from the international community about the Y Complex Project. Progressive Voice, an organization that has been working on human rights in Myanmar for many years, mentioned Y Complex as an example of Japan prioritizing its business interests over human rights and democracy. Tokyo Tatemono and Daiwa House Industry should withdraw from contractual obligations under which rent payments are made to the Office of the Quarter Master General. Further, given that most of the shareholders to whom we sent our letter either did not respond or simply called attention to their own human rights policies, more action is needed. We request all shareholders to continue engaging with the companies to urge them to sever their economic relations with the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth Japan, Justice For Myanmar, Network Against Japan Arms Trade, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation, Japan International Volunteer Center, Pacific Asia Resource Center and Human Rights Now
Date of publication:
2022-08-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"The Myanmar military has been invited to the Tri-Service Asian Defense & Security Exhibition, Conference and Networking Event, running in Bangkok from August 29 to September 1.
The Asian Defense & Security 2022 visitor profile features “High-Ranking Officials from Defence Ministries and Departments, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force” and lists Myanmar as one of the countries.
Defense & Security 2022 involves an arms fair, seminars, technical presentations and live demonstrations, supported by Thailand’s Ministry of Defence. The conference website lists the ASEAN Defence Industry Collaboration as part of the event, an ASEAN program that includes the Myanmar military.
In the last Asian Defense & Security, held in 2019, war criminal Min Aung Hlaing led the military’s delegation, and the army’s Myanmar Defence Industry had a booth.
Other official Defense & Security invitees include Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, South Korea and Spain, all of which have arms embargoes in place against Myanmar. The USA has a “partnership pavilion”.
Exhibitors with a record of selling arms and dual use goods to the Myanmar military include CETC, Elbit Systems, NORINCO and Thales.
The event organiser, GML (Thailand), is a joint venture registered in China and 49% owned by Informa, a UK corporation listed on the London Stock Exchange, according to its last annual report.
Informa did not respond to questions from Justice For Myanmar on the Myanmar military junta’s attendance and if they will be exhibiting in 2022.
Informa is the parent company of the academic publishing giant, Taylor & Francis Group, and its subsidiary, Routledge.
Informa acquired the Hong Kong based exhibition business UBM in June 2018, giving them a stake in GML.
Other upcoming Informa events, where there is a risk that junta representatives could attend, include IFSEC India, a security industry trade fair to be held in New Delhi on December 1-3, showcasing surveillance technology. IFSEC India partner, Hikvision, has supplied CCTV equipment to the Myanmar junta. In 2018, the Myanmar police chief was a VIP guest at an IFSEC event in Southeast Asia, also organised by Informa.
On December 7-10, Informa is co-organising Marintec, an exhibition in Shanghai supported by the Equipment Department of the PLA Navy and co-sponsored by China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited, a state-owned navy shipbuilder. Chin State Shipbuilding Corporation is a supplier of the Myanmar Navy, according to leaked documents concerning procurement.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We condemn Informa’s involvement in arms fairs that support the Myanmar military’s procurement of arms and equipment for use against the people.
“Informa must ensure that the Myanmar junta and its associates are barred from Defense & Security 2022, and all future events, and explain why it allowed Min Aung Hlaing to participate and exhibit in Defense & Security 2019, two years after the Myanmar military’s campaign of genocide against the Rohingya.
“By exhibiting locally produced arms, Informa has helped the Myanmar military develop export markets that can provide it with revenue to finance its international crimes and enrich war criminals.
“Since the military’s February 1, 2021 illegal attempted coup, the junta has launched a terror campaign that has involved the murder of over 2,200 people, the arrest of more than 15,000, widespread torture, indiscriminate air strikes and shelling, and mass forced displacement.
“The junta’s atrocity crimes are enabled by the continued flow of funds and arms. These must be cut.
“We urge academics who publish research through Taylor & Francis to pressure Informa to ban the Myanmar junta from all its events.
“We demand ASEAN immediately exclude the Myanmar military junta from all events, meetings and activities, including those associated with Defense & Security 2022, and recognise and engage with the National Unity Government as the legitimate government of Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-08-28
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Euromoney has awarded the military linked United Amara Bank (UAB) as “Best Bank” in Myanmar. Euromoney is a UK-based banking and finance media corporation.
Asiamoney, Euromoney’s sister publication, also gave UAB best bank in Myanmar awards for “Best Domestic Bank”, “Best Bank for ESG” and “Best Bank for SMEs”.
UAB is connected to the crony conglomerate, IGE Group of Companies, whose core entity, International Group of Entrepreneur Co. Ltd. was sanctioned by the EU on February 21, 2022.
In its sanctions designation, the EU stated, “IGE provided the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] with financial support in 2017 in connection to the Rakhine ‘clearance operations’ and thus contributed to serious human rights violations in 2017 against the Rohingya population. IGE has also provided the Tatmadaw with indirect financial support by taking financial participations in several projects and companies linked to the Tatmadaw and its conglomerates. Therefore, it provides support to and benefits from the Tatmadaw.”
IGE is owned by Ne Aung, brother of the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Navy, Moe Aung. Ne Aung’s father, Aung Thaung, now deceased, was a minister in the former military junta and was a notorious hardliner who was sanctioned by the US in 2014 for “perpetuating violence, oppression, and corruption”.
A 2008 US embassy cable, released by Wikileaks, called Ne Aung and his other brother, Pyi Aung, “rising cronies” and described how they “use their family connections and close ties to the regime to amass great wealth”.
According to Myanmar’s company registry, Ne Aung and his wife, Khin Moe Nyunt, were the sole owners of UAB Bank Limited until March 8, 2022, when they transferred their shares to two shell companies: Future Growth Investment Co. Ltd., owned by Myo Aung, and Capital Link Investment Co. Ltd., owned by Aye Aye Swe.
Future Growth Investment and Capital Link Investment were both established on March 1, 2022.
Myo Aung and Aye Aye Swe do not appear on directors lists of any other current or former Myanmar registered companies. Myo Aung may be a cousin of Ne Aung, who is an army colonel. Colonel Myo Aung was court marshalled for his involvement in the killing of five detained villagers in northern Shan State in 2016, and was reportedly the manager of an IGE subsidiary.
Corporate filings show Ne Aung left the UAB board of directors on February 25, four days after the EU sanctions designation against IGE. Ne Aung had previously acted as the bank’s chairperson.
The restructure of UAB, days after EU sanctions on IGE, appears to be an attempt to evade sanctions by creating a false separation between UAB, IGE and Ne Aung.
UAB remains linked to IGE Group through common directors. The most significant is IGE Group’s CEO, Than Win Swe, who remains a director of UAB after the ownership restructure. Than Win Swe and Ne Aung are the sole directors of the EU-sanctioned entity, International Group of Entrepreneur Co. Ltd.
Thant Zin, another UAB director, remains on the board of UAB infrastructure development subsidiary Future Creator Group Construction, and, until early 2022, was a director of IGE Land.
It is likely that Myo Aung and Aye Aye Swe are proxy shareholders, and that Ne Aung maintains ownership of the bank. Ne Aung’s control may be exercised through IGE, which would make UAB subject to EU sanctions.
Asiamoney also gave a CSR award to the crony bank KBZ, part of KBZ group of companies. KBZ is linked to the UK, US and EU sanctioned military conglomerate, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), and has used its philanthropic arm, the Brighter Future Foundation, to make major donations to the military in support of the 2017 Rohingya genocide.
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar recommended that KBZ be criminally investigated for making a direct and substantial contribution to crimes against humanity.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Despite attempts at concealment, UAB is clearly linked to Ne Aung’s IGE group, a business empire that has built immense wealth from dealings with the Myanmar military and its conglomerates, profiting from the military’s systemic corruption and enriching war criminals.
“IGE’s complicity in the Rohingya genocide and financial relationships with a murderous military are well established, including in the recent EU sanctions designation.
“It is inexcusable that Euromoney has given its “Best Bank in Myanmar” award to UAB, reputation laundering for a bank that is deeply connected to an EU sanctioned company.
“Since the military’s attempted coup, the junta has murdered more than 2,100 people and arrested over 15,000, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.
“The junta’s international crimes are enabled by IGE, KBZ and other crony companies that provide the junta with sources of revenue to finance its campaign of terror.
“Euromoney and Asiamoney must act responsibly and revoke their awards to UAB and KBZ immediately.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-08-16
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions
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"The recent arrest of a controversial Chinese businessman by Thai police for running an illegal online casino would not have impact on his mega project and gaming venture in Myanmar, said an official from the company that is operating the project near the Thai border.
She Zhijiang was arrested in Bangkok last week. He is the subject of an international arrest warrant for allegedly running an illegal online casino, Thai police said Saturday.
Chinese and other media reports say the 40-year-old has been on the run from Chinese authorities since 2012. He has had controversial mega projects and gaming ventures in Cambodia and at Shwe Kokko in Myanmar’s Karen state, as well as a lottery venture in the Philippines.
An official from Myanmar Yatai International Co., Ltd, which is developing the Shwe Kokko project, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that he had learned about the arrest.
“It won’t have any impact on Shwe Kokko. He may be arrested for his activities in other countries,” he said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Initiated as a new city project near the Thai border in 2017, the US$15-billion project is a collaboration between the BGF—a Myanmar military-backed armed group led by Colonel Chit Thu formerly known as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)—and a Hong Kong-registered company, Yatai International Holding Group (IHG). Myanmar Yatai International Co., Ltd is registered in Myanmar as a collaboration between IHG and Chit Lin Myaning, a company run by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) active in the Shwe Kokko area near Myawaddy Township in Myanmar’s Karen State. She Zhijiang is the chairman of Yatai Group.
However it was halted and investigated by the National League for Democracy (NLD) government in 2019 due to a lack of transparency, land confiscations, confusion over the scale of construction and the growing influx of Chinese money as well as suspected illicit activity involving casino businesses. The Chinese Embassy in Yangon expressed support for Myanmar’s move to investigate the irregularities.
In 2020, however, Yatai IHG’s management continued its gambling operations in the new city, which was only partially finished, in spite of a coronavirus lockdown. That year, both Thai and Chinese citizens were arrested in Mae Sot by Thai border police after entering Thailand illegally. Those arrested confessed to having worked at casinos within Shwe Kokko. Their testimony indicates that both online and traditional casinos are still operating in Karen State.
Colonel Chit Thu told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the new city project is currently halted. He couldn’t say exactly how it would be affected by the arrest of She.
“I think he was arrested for what he was involved in before the Shwe Kokko project,” the colonel said.
When asked about gambling in the new city, he said Shwe Kokko is not a gambling city.
“We only have a little casino venue,” he said.
Interpol issued a red notice for She in May 2021. He faces criminal charges in China related to running a casino and could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail, AFP reported.
Between January 2018 and February 2021, She — who heads up a “criminal gang” — colluded with others to register companies, and research and develop online gambling platforms, the red notice says.
The notice adds that online gambling websites including Hongshulin, Yigou and Yiyou International were set up and 330,000 gamblers were recruited..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-08-15
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma's economic relations with China, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Gambling
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"116 Myanmar and Singapore companies with 262 directors and shareholders have brokered the supply of weapons and other equipment worth many millions in US dollars to the Myanmar military, including since the illegal attempted coup of February 1, 2021.
The known brokers include 31 companies with 77 directors and shareholders that Justice For Myanmar has identified as suppliers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have had active business with the military since its coup attempt.
These brokers of arms and equipment for a military that has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide must be urgently sanctioned.
Justice For Myanmar has also identified 27 companies with 51 directors and shareholders that brokered arms and equipment to the Myanmar military since 2017– the year of the Rohingya genocide. Justice For Myanmar also calls for sanctions against these companies and individuals.
Linked to the total of 78 Myanmar-based companies supplying the military are at least 38 subsidiary or associated companies in Singapore.
Singapore has long been a known financial and trade hub for the Myanmar military’s arms procurement and this poses an imminent threat to the lives of millions of Myanmar people.
As a member of ASEAN, Singapore has an obligation to play an instrumental role to resolve the Myanmar crisis, as well as a moral responsibility to act. It must end its complicity in the junta’s international crimes.
We are calling for international sanctions on arms brokers and their directors and shareholders in order to halt the flow of arms to the military junta.
We call on Singapore to impose immediate sanctions to ban the use of its territory, including its banks and ports, for the supply of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military.
The Myanmar military’s resources are used by the junta in its campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.
The military junta has killed 2,158 civilians and imprisoned over 15,000 more since the military’s illegal attempted coup on February 1, 2021.
Since the attempted coup, the military junta has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, murdered villagers, committed rape, destroyed homes and crops, forcibly displacing an estimated 866,400 people.
Under the Arms Trade Treaty, to which 111 states are parties, it is prohibited to transfer arms with knowledge they would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies seeks to prevent the transfer of dual-use goods to countries of concern. Singapore is not party to the Arms Trade Treaty or the Wassenaar Arrangement.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “So far, only a few of the companies supplying arms and equipment to the military junta have been sanctioned. The vast majority are continuing to operate freely. This is unacceptable.
“When only a few countries impose sanctions, the junta is still able to get the arms, equipment and funds it needs to terrorise the people of Myanmar.
“Sanctions are only effective when they are imposed by all relevant countries, on all businesses and individuals enabling the junta and its atrocity crimes.
“JFM is calling for coordinated international sanctions on these companies and their directors and shareholders in order to stop the flow of arms and equipment to the military junta.
“Governments and companies – especially Singapore – have significant power to end the military junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. Without meaningful action, Singapore will remain complicit in the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes.
“Singapore and other governments imposed swift and coordinated sanctions on the Russian government and its arms businesses in response to its aggression against Ukraine. The time is well overdue for governments to take a decisive and coordinated response to the Myanmar military’s international crimes.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-08-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions
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142.81 KB
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Description:
"116 Myanmar and Singapore companies with 262 directors and shareholders have brokered the supply of weapons and other equipment worth many millions in US dollars to the Myanmar military, including since the illegal attempted coup of February 1, 2021.
The known brokers include 31 companies with 77 directors and shareholders that Justice For Myanmar has identified as suppliers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have had active business with the military since its coup attempt. These businesses and their directors and shareholders are complicit in the military’s atrocity crimes. Justice For Myanmar calls for urgent sanctions against these companies and individuals.
Justice For Myanmar has also identified 27 companies with 51 directors and shareholders that brokered arms and equipment to the Myanmar military since 2017– the year of the Rohingya genocide, preceding the coup attempt. They have been complicit in the military’s atrocity crimes and must be prevented from pursuing further business with the military. Justice For Myanmar calls for sanctions against these companies and individuals.
Linked to the total of 78 Myanmar-based companies brokering for the military are at least 38 subsidiary or associated companies in Singapore.
Singapore has long been a known financial and trade hub for the Myanmar military junta and this poses an imminent threat to the lives of millions of Myanmar people. As a member of ASEAN, Singapore has an important role to play to resolve the Myanmar crisis. It must start by ending its complicity in the junta’s international crimes.
Myanmar’s military resources have long been used in its campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar, in aggression against ethnic minorities who resisted its attempts to suppress their equal rights in the union. The military has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity against ethnic minorities and in 2017, committed genocide against the Rohingya. Since the 1 February 2021 attempted coup, that deliberate violence is directed against people across the country who continue to reject and resist the military’s ongoing attempt to seize power.
The suppliers of arms to the Myanmar military have had knowledge of the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the brutal military. Those who continue to provide arms are complicit in the military’s atrocity crimes.
Since the military’s attempted coup, the military has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, murdered villagers, committed rape, destroyed homes and crops, and forcibly displaced an estimated 866,400 people.
Under the Arms Trade Treaty, to which 111 states are parties, it is prohibited to transfer arms with knowledge they would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies seeks to prevent the transfer of dual-use goods to countries of concern. 42 states are parties to the Wassenaar Agreement. However, Singapore is not a party to the Arms Trade Treaty or the Wassenaar Arrangement.
So far, only a few of the companies supplying arms and other products to the military junta have been sanctioned, while the vast majority are continuing to operate freely.
Companies brokering arms to Myanmar military
The following companies are confirmed to have brokered arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, and are divided into three categories, based on the current status of their identified business activities.
Category “A” lists brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have had business with the Myanmar military since the attempted coup.
Category “B” lists brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have conducted business with the Myanmar military following the Rohingya genocide from 2017 or later.
Justice For Myanmar calls for companies, directors and shareholders listed in category “A” and “B” to be sanctioned for their involvement in supplying the Myanmar military.
Category “C” includes brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have conducted business with the Myanmar military from 2015-2016, or where dates are not confirmed. The companies, their shareholders and directors should be monitored as there is a risk that they may have continued business with the Myanmar military. Any ongoing business with the Myanmar military must result in sanctions.
The sources are based on documents from the Myanmar Ministry of Defence's procurement department that have been leaked to JFM, previous disclosures made public by JFM, industry sources and other online and media sources.
Download the list of Myanmar military arms broker companies and individuals (11 August 2022): Download Excel File (65 kb)
Category A: Brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have had business with the Myanmar military since its coup attempt
A1 Group of Companies & subsidiaries: Yadanarbon Fibre Services Co. Ltd, Com & Com Co. Ltd, Terabit Wave Co. Ltd & Bright Sky Group Pte Ltd
A1 Group through its subsidiaries Yadanarbon Fibre Services Company Limited, Com & Com Company Limited, Terabit Wave Company Limited and Bright Sky Group Private Limited provide telecommunications technology and services to the Myanmar military.
According to Yadanarbon Fibre Services Co. Ltd’s website, the company has provided CCTV surveillance services to the Ministry of Defence, which is controlled by the war criminal Min Aung Hlaing.
Terabit Wave Co. Ltd and Com & Com Co. Ltd, which has business links to German and Israel companies, have had business with the Myanmar Army’s Directorate of Signals since 2014.
According to JFM sources, purchases are made through Bright Sky Group Pte Ltd, a Singaporean business unit of the A1 Group.
In 2017, Terabit Wave brokered or attempted to broker the procurement of optical transmission systems from the Korean firm Coweaver for the Directorate of Signals, according to a leaked letter sent by the company to the Directorate of Procurement in September 2017.
The four companies share common directors and shareholders. In addition, Yadanarbon Fibre Services Company Limited is also a shareholder in Telecom International Myanmar (Mytel), a military-controlled telecommunications operator in Myanmar, through Myanmar National Telecom Holdings.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Creative Exploration Ltd
Creative Exploration Limited (formerly known as mySpace International or My Space International Company Limited) has imported fuzes from India to the Myanmar military since the attempted coup.
The most recent shipment was on March 25, 2022 and consisted of 3,000 fuzes, according to records from the Panjiva trade database. This followed a similar shipment in 2020 and 2019.
The company has also imported digital forensics technology from the United States (US) firm Oxygen Forensics and a digital forensics examination station from the US firm Sirichie, both via Indian suppliers.
Creative Exploration Ltd is also a major broker of arms and equipment for the Myanmar police force.
The company is owned by Dr Kyaw Kyaw Htun, a former military officer and graduate of the Defence Services Technological Academy and his wife, Zar Phyu Tin Soe, is the daughter of a former military officer who was Myanmar’s ambassador to Russia.
For more details, see JFM’s feature
Dynasty Group & its subsidiaries
Dynasty Group of Companies, which has carried out business in the European Union (EU), supplied aircraft and spare parts manufactured by the German company Grob to the Myanmar Air Force.
A subsidiary of Dynasty Group, Dynasty International Company Limited, is also a key arms supplier to the Myanmar military, with links to companies in Russia, Belarus and Germany.
Dynasty International imported parts for Mi-17 helicopters since the attempted coup, according to data from the trade database, ImportGenius.
The Group’s director, Dr Aung Moe Myint, is the Belarus Honorary Consul to Myanmar.
His business unit registered in Singapore, Dynasty Excellency Pte Ltd, is highly likely to be used to facilitate arms transactions to Myanmar.
Aung Moe Myint is now targeted by sanctions from the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, and his business Dynasty International Company Limited is also sanctioned by the UK.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Galaxy Shine Co. Ltd
Galaxy Shine Company Limited (formerly known as Aung Sein Hein Company Limited) has imported Mi-17 helicopter parts to Myanmar from Simplex LLC, a Russian supplier of aircraft parts, since the attempted coup.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Htoo Group of Companies & its subsidiaries: Myanmar Avia Export, Htoo Trading, YAECO
The Htoo Group of Companies (HGC) is a major crony conglomerate owned by arms broker Tay Za and his family.
Tay Za is a significant business associate of the Myanmar military, who has supplied the military with aircraft and parts through his companies, Myanmar Avia Export and Htoo Trading Company Limited.
Myanmar Avia Export Company has imported Mi-35P aircrafts and Mi-17 aircrafts parts worth millions of euros from Ukrainian firm Motor Sich and Russian firms including JSC Russian Helicopters, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY and a leaked letter from the Myanmar Air Force to the Directorate of Procurement, sent in November 2017. The company is now in liquidation.
The Group’s aviation service company Yangon Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (YAECO) has also provided services to the Myanmar Air Force.
The Htoo Group of Companies and some of key directors and shareholders have been sanctioned by the US, the UK and the EU for providing financial support and arms to the Myanmar military.
HGC has ongoing business with the Myanmar military and its conglomerates.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
International Gateways Group of Companies, Myanmar Consultancy Co. Ltd & Venture Sky International Ltd
International Gateways Group of Companies (IGG) through its subsidiary Gateways Hongkong Company Limited – was awarded contracts worth millions of US dollars to supply equipment including spare parts and upgrades for the air force’s fighter jets and other aircraft and weapons for warships to the Myanmar military.
According to JFM sources, IGG is one of the biggest arms suppliers to the Myanmar Air Force and Navy, especially in trade from China.
IGG’s managing director, Dr. Naing Htut Aung, is sanctioned by the US.
Dr. Naing Htut Aung was a key director and shareholder of Myanmar Consultancy Company Limited (MCC), which has procured equipment from ALLWE, a Russian trading company that specialises in the supply of aircraft parts and related equipment for Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters. In 2019, Myanmar Consultancy attempted to supply a CASA CN-235 military transport aircraft, according to a leaked proposal.
MCC was an online exhibitor at the MAKS 2021 air show in Russia, which the Myanmar military coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attended in person.
For details, see JFM’s feature.
Dr. Naing Htut Aung’s Singapore business Venture Sky International Ltd has directly supplied aircraft spare parts to the Myanmar military.
The company had at least 12 contracts with the Myanmar Air Force to provide aircraft spare parts in 2016 alone.
Notably, this is the same year the company was established, indicating that the company was likely to have been set up as an intermediary for the Myanmar military amidst sanctions that were in place at the time.
According to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement, the 2016 purchases include:
53 spare parts for MiG-29 fighter planes worth over USD$ 3.3 million
213 spare parts for G-4 planes worth USD$ 800,000
197 spare parts for K-8w trainer jets worth USD$ 700,000
30 spare parts for Y-12 multi-use planes worth USD$ 100,000
7 spare parts for Mi-17 military helicopters worth USD$ 10,901
25 spare parts for Mi-17 military helicopters worth USD$ 47,203
289 spare parts for Cessna Citation CCII planes worth USD$ 1.4 million
4 spare parts for main components of CCII planes worth USD$ 43,640
57 spare parts for F-7 fighter planes worth USD$ 200,000
3 pieces of lifting equipment for Myanmar Navy worth USD$ 359,750
11 main components for MiG-29 fighter planes worth USD$ 1.1 million
5 main components for Bell-206 helicopters worth USD$ 44,650
In 2017, when the Myanmar military carried out a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya,
Venture Sky International Ltd also sold spare parts for PC-7 aircraft and Mi-17 helicopters to the Myanmar military.
Venture Sky International Ltd was dissolved in October 2021 after JFM reported on arms shipments involving Dr Naing Htut Aung’s companies.
Dr Naing Htut Aung is a key arms dealer to the Myanmar military and his businesses are currently only sanctioned in the US and continue to operate freely elsewhere.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
KT Group, Ky-Tha Group & their subsidiaries
KT Group of Companies and Ky-Tha Group of Companies have procured arms and dual use goods for the Myanmar military through their subsidiaries.
A subsidiary Kyaw Htet Kyaw Company is a key broker for the procurement of equipment and services for the Myanmar military, including the air force and the army’s Directorate of Procurement.
The company won a one-million-euro tender for the purchase of a Sub-Atlantic Super Mohawk remotely operated vehicle (ROV), manufactured by the US-based Forum Energy Technologies.
According to a leaked document, the transaction was made through subsidiary Ky-Tha Trading in Singapore.
KT Group subsidiary, MWG Limited, has procured Fokker planes for the Myanmar Air Force, according to the New York Times.
Subsidiaries Ky-Tha Trading and Ky-Tha Industrial Development have also procured and provided services related to Thales Coast Watcher 100s – a French-designed long-range coastal surveillance radar – for the Myanmar Navy.
These companies are owned by Moe Kyaw Thaung and his son Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung, who is the Chief Executive Officer of KT Group.
Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung is currently sanctioned by the US for being a business associate of the Myanmar military.
Yet, no other country has sanctioned his arms-dealing companies and their directors.
KT Group has ongoing business with the Myanmar military and its conglomerates. For more details, see New York Times reporting and JFM’s feature.
L T Resources Co. Ltd
L T Resources Company Limited is linked to the procurement of aircraft for the Myanmar Air Force.
The company is owned by Linn Htet and Mon Yee and Thida Myint (niece, nephew and sister of the junta’s State Administration Council member, Maung Maung Kyaw).
For more details, see Reuters reporting.
Mega Hill General Trading Co. Ltd
Mega Hill General Trading Company Limited has procured arms, dual use goods and spare parts for the Myanmar military, including after the attempted coup.
The company also has a history of procuring technology and providing services through the army’s Directorate of Procurement.
It also provides medical supplies to the Myanmar military's Defence Services Medical Academy.
The company has business links to German companies.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Miya Win International & Asia Golden Phoenix Consultancy Services
These two companies procure arms and dual use goods for the Myanmar military, including from Austria and Germany.
Miya Win International procured Austrian-made Schiebel Camcopter S-100 unmanned aerial vehicles for the Myanmar military, in breach of the EU arms embargo.
Asia Golden Phoenix Consultancy procured an ATR flight simulator from the Austrian firm Axis Simulation, and registered it with the European Air Safety Authority.
Miya Win International has imported parts and a full-scale training model for Camcopter S-100s since the illegal coup attempt.
Miya Win International is now subject to sanctions from the UK for its role in procuring arms on behalf of the Myanmar military.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Myanmar Chemical & Machinery Co. Ltd & its subsidiaries
Myanmar Chemical & Machinery Company Ltd (MCM) is owned by arms dealer Aung Hlaing Oo.
The company’s subsidiaries are suppliers of arms and related materiel to the Myanmar military and are also involved in arms production and a technical transfer project producing K-8 trainer jets in Myanmar with the Chinese state-owned arms company, CATIC. K-8 trainers were last commissioned during the junta’s air force anniversary celebrations in December 2021.
MCM was part of a project with the Ukrainian state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom and the army’s Directorate of Defence Industries to produce BTR-4 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), MMT-40 light tanks and 2SIU self-propelled howitzers.
MCM has supplied spare parts, tools and accessories for T-72 tanks to the Commander in Chief of the Myanmar Army’s Directorate of Artillery and Armour Corps.
MCM has also procured arms from Serbia for the Myanmar military. A 2019 MCM proposal for the Myanmar Air Force, leaked to Justice For Myanmar, details aircraft-mounted rocket launchers, rockets, free-fall bombs, a multiple bomb launcher for use “on large surfaces” and fuses.
A Singaporean subsidiary of MCM Pacific Pte Ltd has provided parts for Mi-2, Mi-17 and Bell 206 helicopters to the Myanmar Air Force.
The company has also imported spare parts for a MTU12V 331TC 92 marine diesel engine as well as an engine display unit, propulsion system, lifesaving equipment and stern arrangement worth millions of US dollars for the Myanmar Navy.
MCM Pacific Pte Ltd supplied BTR-3U armoured personnel carrier parts to the Myanmar army’s Directorate of Artillery and Armour Corps worth millions of euros.
MCM has been sanctioned by the US, UK and Canada.
For more details, see JFM’s feature and comany profile.
Myanmar New Era Trading Co. Ltd & Yatanarpon Aviation Support Co. Ltd
Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited, owned by Aung Myo Win, former managing director of arms supplier Myanmar Consultancy Company Limited, has procured goods for the Myanmar military.
Data from the trade database Import Genius reveals that Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited has shipped parts for Mi-17 and Mi-8 helicopters from Russia 83 times.
Yatanarpon Aviation Support Company Limited, which is linked to Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited, has received aircraft parts from Ukroboronservice on behalf of the Myanmar military since 2020, including following the military’s attempted coup.
Yatanarpon Aviation Support Co. Ltd was formerly a company of Sit Taing Aung, Mexico's honorary consul to Myanmar, who has been sanctioned by the US and Canada for brokering arms on behalf of the Myanmar military.
Yatanarpon Aviation Support Co. Ltd is now in liquidation.
For more details, see JFM’s features here and here.
Sky Aviator Co. Ltd
Sky Aviator is a Myanmar miliary arms broker that has procured equipment from Russia and Ukraine since the attempted coup, including YAK-130 support equipment from Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET), refitted turbojet engines from United Engine Corporation and engine parts from Rosoboronexport and Motor Sich.
According to a proposal leaked to JFM, Sky Aviator represents JSC Russian Helicopters in Myanmar.
Sky Aviator is subject to UK sanctions.
For more details, see JFM’s feature and details of recent shipments received from Russia by Sky Aviator Co. Ltd.
Star Sapphire Group
A subsidiary of Star Sapphire Group – Star Sapphire Trading Company Limited – has played a key role in brokering deals for arms and military equipment on behalf of the Myanmar military over many years.
Equipment procured has included defence technology and products from China and, previously from Israel.
The company’s Managing Director, Dr Tun Min Latt, is directly involved in these arms deals and has direct access to military coup leader Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing.
His wife Dr Tun Min Latt jointly formed a company with Khin Thiri Thet Mon, daughter of Min Aung Hlaing.
The company has ongoing business with the Myanmar military.
For details, see JFM’s feature.
Synpex Shwe Co. Ltd
The Synpex Shwe Company Limited procured material for the Myanmar Air Force in March 2021 and the company is also a supplier for the Directorate of Defence Industries.
Synpex Shwe is now subjected to sanctions from the UK for its role in procuring arms on behalf of the Myanmar military.
For more details, see the JFM feature.
Trident Marine Co. Ltd, Amber Star General Trading Co. Ltd, Atland Services Pte Ltd and D&K Intertrade Pte Ltd
These companies have supplied equipment and services worth many millions of US dollars for the Myanmar navy, as part of a major frigate construction project.
In the aftermath of the junta’s illegal coup attempt, Trident Marine Co. Ltd staff together with a Myanmar navy delegation travelled to Ukraine as part of the frigate project.
The deal was brokered in partnership with the Ukrainian-owned Singaporean company, Atland Services Pte Ltd, according to an industry source.
Trident Marine Co. Ltd also procured ship parts for the Myanmar Navy in 2015-16, including navigation equipment, electrical fittings and steering equipment.
For more details, see Myanmar Now reporting and JFM’s feature.
Category B: Brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who have had business with the Myanmar military during the 2017-18 financial year or later
Aero Sofi Co. Ltd & Asia Trading Group Pte Ltd
Aero Sofi Company Limited is a supplier to the Myanmar Air Force.
The company’s agreements with the Myanmar Air Force include the luxury refurbishment of an Airbus A319-112 plane worth millions of US dollars, which was cancelled after it was exposed, and a proposed US$38.6 million deal to purchase two Airbus CASA C-295 military transport planes from the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
The company is wholly owned by an arms broker, Sai Kham Park Hpa, who holds a stake in the Singapore-based Asia Trading Group Private Limited, a company which is facilitates the transactions.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Asia Energy Supply & Services Co. Ltd
This company supplied a pump to the Myanmar Navy in 2017, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
D S T Business Group Co. Ltd
In 2017-18, the company supplied an engine room ventilation system and accessories, an anchor winch and an F12 PLC industrial computer control card, a shipboard power cable, electrical hardware, a watertight cable sealing system, a navigation lamp, a search light, a signal light, a marine electrical lamp fitting and a steering system to be used by the Myanmar Navy, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
General Machinery Trading Co. Ltd and General Machinery Trading Pte Ltd
General Machinery Trading Company Limited, a port equipment supply company, has provided welding accessories, a welding electrode, panelling materials and packing and joining materials to the Myanmar Navy, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
The purchases were made through its Singapore business unit, General Machinery Trading Private Limited.
Another leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement shows General Machinery Trading Company also supplied a Laser Tracker System for the Myanmar Navy in 2017
The company is the official authorised distributor in Myanmar of a wide range of port equipment from international brands – such as cranes and lifting equipment from Konecranes in Finland, V-belts products from Bando in Japan, a mobile shredder from Metso in Denmark and products from Terex Fuchs in Germany, according to the company website.
Interstellar Ltd
This company is an official sales agent for the import of aviation parts from Ukroboronprom in Ukraine to the Myanmar air force, according to a leaked proposal, and was an online exhibitor at the MAKS 2021 air show in Russia.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
King Royal Technologies Co. Ltd
This company has had contracts with the Myanmar Air Force and the Myanmar army’s Directorate of Signals, and has reportedly been engaged in military research and manufacturing.
It is subject to US Department of Commerce restrictions.
For more details, see JFM’s report and feature on the arms trade with Russia, and a leaked proposal.
Life and Challenge Co. Ltd and LANC Pte Ltd
Life and Challenge Company Limited, a company which has links to the EU, provided an engine room ventilation system and accessories, an anchor winch, a F12 PLC industrial computer control card, and a piping machine and tools for the Myanmar navy, according to leaked Ministry of Defence documents concerning procurement.
In 2018, Life and Challenge Co. Ltd and its partner TBSS, a Singaporean company that specialises in radars and electronic warfare, and training and engineering services, were jointly awarded a contract to design and deliver a radar capability development programme for the Myanmar military officers from the Defence Services Science and Technology Research Centre (DSSTRC), Defence Services Technological Academy (DSTA), Directorate of Signals and Directorate of Defence Industries.
Life and Challenge Co. Ltd has also supplied dozens of items to the DSSTRC through its Singapore business LANC Pte Ltd.
Life and Challenge Co. Ltd’s co-owner Wunna is also director and shareholder of Myanmar Consultancy Company Limited (MCC), a key arms supplier to the Myanmar military.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Lion Zone Co. Ltd
This company was contracted to supply a plating machine and other tools for the Myanmar Navy in 2017.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Machinery & Solutions Co. Ltd
This company supplied spare parts for a MTU12V 331TC 92 marine diesel engine and an engine display unit for the Myanmar Navy in 2017, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Mega Dynamic Co. Ltd and Achiever Marine Service
These two companies have jointly provided items for the Myanmar Navy following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for dozens of marine equipment items including ship wiring cables, navigation and marine electrical fittings, a propulsion system, a stern arrangement, a steering system, a ventilation blower, welding machines, mooring and towing equipment and other accessories, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY
In 2017, Mega Dynamic Co. Ltd also provided a propulsion system, a stern arrangement, a steering system and ventilation blower to Myanmar Navy, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2017-18 FY.
Monday International Co. Ltd
This company supplied an engine room ventilation system and accessories for the Myanmar Navy in 2017, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Myan Shwe Pyi Tractors Ltd
This company sold a propulsion system and stern arrangement to the Myanmar Navy in 2014 and 2017, respectively, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Myanmar Future Science Co. Ltd
This company has procured Elbit drone parts that were sent to the Myanmar military.
For more details, see a proposal leaked to JFM, and reporting in the New York Times.
One Success Co. Ltd
This company was awarded a contract to supply foundry shop accessories to the Myanmar Navy in 2017, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Royal Shune Lei Co. Ltd
The Royal Shune Lei Company Limited has supplied arms and related materiel from Russia and Serbia to the Myanmar military.
See the leaked 2019 proposal involving procurement from Serbia and this feature on the arms trade with Russia.
Shwepoe May Co. Ltd
Shwepoe May Company Limited is run by a former instructor at the Myanmar military’s Defence Services Academy.
The company has supplied rockets and missiles to the military, according to a JFM source.
It has also provided spare parts for BTR-3U armoured personnel carriers to the Commander in Chief (Army) Directorate of Artillery and Armour Corps.
See 2019 proposal leaked to JFM.
Sixth Ocean Ltd & Midway Pte Ltd
Sixth Ocean Limited has procured equipment for the Myanmar military.
The company’s purchases were made through Midway Pte Ltd, a company that was registered in Singapore, but has since been struck off the company registry.
In addition, Sixth Ocean also has links to Allwe, a Russian company which provides parts to the Myanmar military.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Sun & Moon 777
Sun & Moon 777 works closely with the Commander in Chief of the Myanmar Navy, Moe Aung.
The company brokered French Zodiac Milpro inflatable rubber boats to Myawaddy Trading, a subsidiary of the Myanmar military’s conglomerate, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), in August 2020, for delivery in 2021, according to leaked documents.
The Myanmar Navy is known to be the end user of these boats according to an industry source with knowledge of the transaction.
TBSS Group and TBSS Center for Electrical and Electronics Engineering
TBSS, a sole proprietor company owned by Singapore engineer Lee Kar Heng, has provided equipment, training and support for the Myanmar military to development its radar capabilities, in partnership with Myanmar military broker Life and Challenge Company Limited. This has included the provision of a 9-month radar capability development program for the Defense Services Science and Technology Research Centre (DSSTRC) and Defence Services Technological Academy (DSTA) in 2018. Lee Kar Heng is a former staff of Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency.
TBSS Group has involved its international partners in supplying equipment and training to the Myanmar military, including Keysight Technologies (USA), SkyRadar (Luxembourg/Germany), Dspnor (Norway) and RFBeam (Switzerland).
For details, see JFM’s feature and Straits Times reporting.
Trio Core Distribution Co. Ltd
Trio Core Distribution Company Limited is linked to arms broker Miya Win International.
This company was a business partner to Victorinox and arranged a meeting for Victorinox with the Myanmar military on August 22, 2017, as the military was committing genocide against the Rohingya. It led to the supply of knives with an imprint for the 72nd anniversary of the Myanmar Air Force in 2019.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
True North Co. Ltd
True North is a known arms dealer and the agent of the Indonesian state-owned enterprise, PT Pindad. PT Pindad has exported ammunition to Myanmar. True North is owned by Htoo Htoo Shein Oo, the son of the Myanmar military junta’s planning and finance minister, Win Shein.
For more details, see JFM’s feature.
Trust And Honesty International Co. Ltd / UK Logix Security International Co. Ltd
Aung Min Nyo (also known as Kevin Nyo) and these two companies that he co-owns have provided defence security consultation, services and technology to the Myanmar military, according to JFM sources.
Category C: Brokers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, who had business with the Myanmar military from 2015 to 2016, or where dates are not confirmed
Asia Resource Developments Trading Co. Ltd
This company has had contracts with the Myanmar Navy to supply marine items including an engine room ventilation system and accessories, marine diesel gensets, a main switchboard, marine spare parts and an oxygen plant for a naval dockyard, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
Bamar Pte Ltd
Bamar Pte, a Singapore based company owned by Myanmar citizens, has supplied arms and aircraft spare parts for the Myanmar military in 2016.
The items supplied include spare parts for Mi-17 helicopters and 37mm twin barrel AA guns worth millions in US dollars, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement, according to leaked Ministry of Defence documents concerning procurement.
The company has registered an overseas branch office in Yangon, Myanmar.
Eternity Star Co. Ltd and Pollux Marine Pte Ltd
Eternity Star Company Limited and Pollux Marine Private Limited have jointly imported ship wiring cables, marine navigation electrical fittings and a steering system for the Myanmar Navy, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
Both companies are owned by a Myanmar citizen, Ye Linn.
Eternity Star Co. Ltd is the authorised distributor of products from marine brands ESAB, Mercury Marine and Delfin in Myanmar.
Future Gift International Ltd
This company has provided an aviation jet refuelling vehicle for the Myanmar Air Force in 2016, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Lucky Bird Trading Company Limited
A leaked August 2017 Myanmar Air Force letter to the Directorate of Procurement shows that Lucky Bird Co. Ltd attempted to broker EWR 600 and EWR 750 weather radar manufactured by its partner. According to an arms industry source, Lucky Bird Trading has also won IT contracts from the Myanmar military.
Marinetech Limited
A Myanmar military broker with links to France. In July 2017, Marinetech together with a French partner CNIM met with the Myanmar army to negotiate the provision of a modular assault bridge system, according to a leaked letter sent to the Directorate of Procurement.
Mascot Company Limited
The company has supplied communications equipment to the Myanmar army from the South African firm Reutech, according to an industry source.
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFMM) reported that Reutech has supplied ground-to-air radio transmitter V/UHF transceivers (Reutech/PAE 3060), according to the Ministry of Defence budget documents.
Moezac Company Limited
A leaked July 2017 Directorate of Procurement letter shows representatives from MoeZac Co., Ltd. is partnered with Russian firm UAZ LLC and met with Directorate of Defence Industries regarding the supply of armoured and other vehicles.
Nanova Company Limited and Nanova Pte Ltd
Nanova Company Limited supplied equipment including pneumatic fenders for the Myanmar Navy.
It has also provided scientific equipment for the Myanmar military’s Defence Services Science and Technology Research Centre (DSSTRC), according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
Since 2014, Nanova has been purchasing Radar Absorbent Paint (RAP) manufactured by Micromag Co., Ltd. for the Myanmar military. According to a brief report, Myanmar Navy representatives travelled to Spain in Feb 2014 regarding Micromag purchases.
Nanova is registered in Myanmar as well as in Singapore as a supplier of medical, scientific and industrial equipment.
It has offices in Yangon, Naypyidaw and Mandalay.
Oro Vittorio Co. Ltd.
This company supplied spare parts for a flight simulator to the Myanmar Air Force in 2016, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Proven Technology Industry Co. Ltd.
This company has supplied thousands of vehicle batteries to the Myanmar military, according to a leakedMinistry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
Pyae Naing Thu Co. Ltd and Xinde Marine Engineering Pte Ltd
Xinde Marine Engineering Private Limited had a joint agreement with Pyae Naing Thu Company Limited to provide items for the Myanmar Navy following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for gyrocompass equipment and stabiliser systems, and an external firefighting system in 2015-16, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
Royal Pyae Phyo Company Limited
Royal Pyae Phyo, a trading and logistics company has involved in supplying the Myanmar military with nitrate from the Thai firm, Thai Nitrate Company, according to an industry source.
According to Royal Pyae Phyo’s website, their partners include the Chinese arms conglomerate AVIC, and the Chinese drone manufacturer Beihang UAS Technology Co. Ltd.
Sea Technology International Ltd and Sea Technology Cooperation Pte Ltd
Sea Technology International Limited is a major supplier of marine communication and navigation equipment in Myanmar.
The company has had multiple contracts with the Myanmar military. It provided items for the Myanmar Navy following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for navigation and other equipment to be installed on landing craft, offshore patrol boats and other naval vessels, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
The company also supplied a Furuno navigation radar to the Myanmar army.
The purchases were made through Sea Technology Cooperation Pte. Ltd, a Singapore branch of Sea Technology.
Shwe Pan Thu Co. Ltd. and Duwon Pte Ltd
These companies have jointly supplied items for the Myanmar Navy following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for anchor chain and accessories and a marine window, according to a Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
Singa International Enterprise Ltd and Royal Lion International Pte Ltd
These companies jointly brokered items for the Myanmar Navy following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for an electric boat crane, firefighting and other equipment, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
The companies have the same directors: Khin Thin Swe and Sein Aung.
The Prime Inya Company Limited
The Prime Inya Company Limited and its partner, Chinese Aerospace Long March International Trade Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of CASC met with the air force commander-in-chief regarding CH-4 armed UAVs in Aug 22, 2017 according to a leaked Myanmar Air Force letter to the Directorate of Procurement. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. CASC has a plant to build CH-4 UAVs in Myanmar, according to the UN Fact-Finding Mission.
The Prime Inya has also been listed as a buyer of ammonium nitrate and sulphur.
Triple Phoenix Co. Ltd. and Triple Phoenix Pte Ltd
Triple Phoenix Company Limited and its Singapore subsidiary Triple Phoenix Private Limited were awarded multiple contracts to supply equipment for the Myanmar military, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for 2015-16 FY.
This has included providing items for the Myanmar Air Force following a successful bid in a Ministry of Defence call for tenders for spare parts for Mi-17 helicopters and main components for MiG-29 aircraft.
These companies have also supplied navigation equipment to be installed on a hospital ship used by the Myanmar Navy and cardiac consumables for the Defence Services Medical Academy.
Some of the purchases were made through a Singapore company, TRD Consultancy Pte Ltd, which has shared the same office and directors with Triple Phoenix Pte Ltd. TRD Consultancy has had an office in Myanmar and has supplied anti-drone guns to the Myanmar Police Force.
Shwe Htee San Trading Co. Ltd. and Shwe Htee San
Shwe Htee San Trading Company Limited, together with its Singapore business, have supplied navigation equipment for the Myanmar Navy to be installed on a naval ship, according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement.
The companies have been struck off the Myanmar and Singapore company registries.
Reliance Products Pte Ltd
Reliance Products Private Limited is linked to Mega Hill General Trading Co. Ltd and has imported hydraulic cranes for the Myanmar navy and equipment for the Defence Services Science and Technology Research Centre (DSSTRC), according to a leaked Ministry of Defence document concerning procurement for the 2015-16 FY.
Call for sanctions
Justice For Myanmar calls for sanctions on the abovementioned category “A” and “B” companies and their directors and shareholders, for their involvement in supplying the Myanmar military.
Category “C” companies and their shareholders and directors should be monitored for any continued business with the Myanmar military. Any ongoing business with the Myanmar military must result in sanctions.
More sanctions are urgently required to prevent the continued flow of arms, equipment and revenue to the Myanmar military, which enable its campaign of terror. Targeted sanctions must capture:
Myanmar and international companies supplying and funding the Myanmar military;
Myanmar and international companies and their directors and shareholders brokering arms, dual-use goods, and funds;
any other companies and individuals that continue to provide the Myanmar military with arms, dual use goods and revenue.
Detailed list of Myanmar military arms broker companies and individuals
JFM has compiled detailed lists identifying Myanmar registered companies and Myanmar linked Singaporean companies involved in supplying the Myanmar military, along with company directors and shareholders, graded according to the abovementioned categories..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-08-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
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Sub-title:
The toxic rare earth mining industry at the heart of the global green energy transition
Description:
"China has long dominated the world's supply of heavy rare earths, minerals needed to build electric vehicles and wind turbines. Demand for these products is skyrocketing as we rush to meet climate goals, but there is a problem at the root of the supply chain.
The processes used to extract heavy rare earths are highly polluting, ravaging landscapes and poisoning waterways. As concerns over the environmental toll of extraction have grown in China over the past decade, more and more domestic mines have been shut down. Yet global demand is growing rapidly, and China remains the world's largest processor.
But with many of its own mines now closed, where is China's supply of these minerals coming from?
A six-month investigation by Global Witness followed the outsourcing of this highly toxic industry across the Chinese border into Myanmar.
There, heavy rare earth mining has exploded so quickly that within just a few years a mountainous corner of Myanmar, known as Kachin Special Region 1, has become the world's largest source of supply. This region is a semi-autonomous territory run by militias that are affiliated to Myanmar's brutal military regime. The mining is illegal under Myanmar's laws, and hardly exists on paper.
Yet the damage that global demand for products manufactured by international companies is fuelling in this remote, lawless part of the world is all too real for the communities who are now risking their lives to defend their land.
LEACHING MYANMAR'S MOUNTAINS
For Zau*, a local worker, the mining boom is a rare chance to make money. He is paid 3,800 yuan ($600) in cash every month, around twice the average salary in Myanmar.
He works in the shadows, at a mine near the Chinese border, for a company that has no permits. On paper, Sin Kyaing Company is owned by a local militia leader called Lagwi Bawm Lang. But like other Burmese companies in the rare earth mining industry, it is really a front for illegal investment by Chinese businesspeople.
Zau's job is to remove vegetation and drill holes into the mountains. Then ammonium sulphate solution is injected into the holes, effectively liquefying the earth. Once the chemicals have percolated through the mountainside, the solution is drained into bright blue collection pools, where minerals are precipitated out in a process called in-situ leaching.
After this mountain has been leached, Zau and his colleagues will abandon the contaminated site, moving to the next place and starting all over again.
“In my opinion, the mountains will definitely collapse one day,” Zau told Global Witness, alluding to the risk of landslides.
Despite being paid well, he is worried about the harm the chemicals are causing to the water supply, and therefore to the health of local people.
“People from the surrounding villages are facing difficulties getting drinking water,” he said. “Even healthy people like us feel dizzy if we inhale these odours for a long time.”
The mountains beneath Zau's feet are rich in ores of dysprosium and terbium, the two most valuable of the heavy rare earth metals. Described by an industry expert as “basically irreplaceable”, we rely on them for a whole range of clean energy and smart tech products – from the smartphone you may be using to read this story, to your energy-conserving home electronics.
But their most important use, representing 90% of their value, is in permanent magnets, which are needed to make motors and generators for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
The stakes are high: it would be almost impossible to build a low-carbon future without these products, and many of them currently do not work well without heavy rare earths..."
Source/publisher:
"Global Witness" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-08-09
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Minerals and Mining - Burma (general articles and analyses), Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Burma's economic relations with China
Language:
more
Description:
"The Australian Embassy in Yangon has spent US$525,473 on accommodation, food and other services at the military linked LOTTE Hotel and LOTTE Serviced Apartment since February 1, 2021.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade disclosed the expenses to Justice For Myanmar under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department denied a request for information regarding the lease arrangements of Australia’s Myanmar Embassy and ambassador’s residence.
The Australian Embassy’s expenses at LOTTE Hotel and Serviced Apartment range from US$31.50 for chocolate cream cake, to a monthly fee of US$7,100 for a luxury lakeview apartment.
LOTTE Hotel and Serviced Apartment are built on land leased from the Office of the Quartermaster General of the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Army, under a build-operate-transfer agreement. The Office of the Quartermaster General is sanctioned by the US, UK and Canada.
LOTTE Hotel investors pay the Office of the Quartermaster General an annual lease fee of US$1.874 million, in addition to a one-time land use premium of US$13.51 million, according to Myanmar Investment Commission records released by Distributed Denial of Secrets. The military will take control of the hotel and apartment complex at the end of the maximum 70-year lease, providing it with a lucrative future asset.
Australia’s business at LOTTE Hotel and Serviced Apartment goes against the recommendations of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, which recommended against all business with the Myanmar military, its conglomerates and business relationships, including real estate rental. The Fact-Finding Mission found that real estate is “a major revenue stream” of the Myanmar military.
Australia’s continuing business at LOTTE Hotel also undermines a mass boycott of military businesses in response to the military’s coup attempt. LOTTE Hotel is listed in the popular boycott app, Way Way Nay and businesses holding meetings at LOTTE Hotel have been publicly criticised. Last month, a Hong Kong government funded networking event at LOTTE Hotel was cancelled after public criticism over the location, including from the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG), the legitimate government with a mandate from the 2020 election.
In a June statement, NUG accused LOTTE Hotel of "knowingly aiding and abetting the atrocities of a junta that is widely held responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against its own people."
LOTTE Hotel’s EU-sanctioned investor
The main investor behind the hotel and serviced apartment project is the South Korean corporation POSCO International, with a 69.3% stake. POSCO International is a publicly listed subsidiary of the steel giant POSCO. LOTTE Corporation, which is also South Korean, owns 15.7% of the project. POSCO and LOTTE’s investment is channelled through a Singapore company, POSCO International Global Development Pte Ltd. The remaining 15% is owned by the project’s local partner, Spirit Paradise Services (formerly IGE-Sinphyushin).
Spirit Paradise Services is owned by Ne Aung, a Myanmar crony and the brother of the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Navy, Moe Aung. Ne Aung’s father, Aung Thaung, was a minister in the former military junta and a notorious hardliner who was sanctioned by the US in 2014 for “perpetuating violence, oppression, and corruption”. Aung Thaung died in 2015.
Ne Aung’s IGE conglomerate was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2022.
In its sanctions designation, the EU stated, “IGE provided the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] with financial support in 2017 in connection to the Rakhine ‘clearance operations’ and thus contributed to serious human rights violations in 2017 against the Rohingya population. IGE has also provided the Tatmadaw with indirect financial support by taking financial participations in several projects and companies linked to the Tatmadaw and its conglomerates. Therefore, it provides support to and benefits from the Tatmadaw.”
In an apparent attempt to evade sanctions, IGE Sinphyushin was restructured and renamed Spirit Paradise Services in April. International Group of Entrepreneur Company Limited, which is the entity named in the EU sanctions designation, transferred its shares to Myanma National Energy Company Limited. IGE group’s CEO, Than Win Swe, and executive director, Thazin Aung, left the IGE Sinphyushin board.
The two new sole directors of Spirit Paradise Services, Lwin Yadanar Oo and Thaw Zinn Lynn, as well as the new sole shareholder of Myanmar National Energy, Paing Zin, do not appear to be linked to any historical companies on Myanmar’s company registry. It is likely that they are acting as proxies of IGE to hide the company’s beneficial ownership.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “It is appalling that Australia is spending taxpayer’s money at the military linked LOTTE Hotel, ignoring the recommendations of the UN Fact-Finding Mission to end business with the Myanmar military.
“LOTTE Hotel finances the Myanmar Army, paying rent to the quartermaster general’s office, which buys the military’s bullets and bombs used in its indiscriminate attacks against the people of Myanmar. The Australian Embassy must have known this.
“Since the military’s attempted coup, the junta has murdered more than 2,000 people and arrested over 14,000, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. The junta is carrying out indiscriminate air strikes and shelling as part of a campaign of terror that has displaced an estimated 783,400 people.
“We demand Foreign Minister Penny Wong immediately end Australia’s business with LOTTE Hotel and all other companies linked to the Myanmar military, which it should have done long ago. Instead of sanctioning the military’s business interests, Australia is helping them profit.
“We reiterate the call of 688 Burma/Myanmar and international organisations for Penny Wong to impose targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military junta and its business interests to cut the revenue flows that fund the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, and call for her urgent action.
“We call on businesses, individuals, governments, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations to boycott LOTTE Hotel and all other businesses that are owned by or finance the Myanmar military.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
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196.63 KB 194.75 KB
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Description:
"Paris, July 20, 2022 – On January 21, 2022, TotalEnergies announced its decision to withdraw from the Yadana field and from gas transportation company MGTC in Myanmar, both as shareholder and as operator. In a context of continuing deterioration of the human rights situation in Myanmar, this decision resulted from the assessment that TotalEnergies was no longer able to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country, and was not able to meet the expectations of stakeholders who were asking to stop the revenues going to the Burmese state through the state-owned company MOGE from the Yadana field production. In accordance with the contractual 6-month notice period, this withdrawal becomes effective on this 20 July 2022. This withdrawal was made in compliance with the European sanctions put in place in February 2022.
Since January 2022, TotalEnergies has continued to act as a responsible operator and has undertaken due diligence to ensure its withdrawal in a responsible manner towards its stakeholders in Myanmar, including its employees as well as the long-standing supported local communities. As such, TotalEnergies worked closely with PTTEP, Thailand's national company, which was appointed as the new operator by the project partners, to guarantee the continuity and safety of production at the Yadana gas field while ensuring an orderly transfer of operations.
All our employees in Myanmar were offered employment with the new operator, under the same job and salary conditions, thus securing their professional future. In addition, a complementary support agreement, through a contribution to a dedicated fund, was also set up between TotalEnergies and PTTEP to continue the historic economic development program with local communities in the MGTC pipeline area.
As TotalEnergies definitively withdraws from Myanmar, our Company repeats its condemnation of the abuses and human rights violations taking place in this country and reaffirms its support to the people of Myanmar and its hope for a swift return to peace and rule of law.
About TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people..."
Source/publisher:
TotalEnergies
Date of publication:
2022-07-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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pdf
Size:
180.93 KB
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Sub-title:
US Sanctions Urgently Needed on Billions in Oil and Gas Revenue
Description:
"(Paris) – Myanmar’s abusive junta will obtain an increased stake in the country’s largest oil and gas field when the French company TotalEnergies withdraws from Myanmar on July 20, 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. TotalEnergies’ shares will be divided proportionally among the remaining three partners – US-based Chevron, Thai-based PTTEP, and the junta-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
TotalEnergies in January announced its plans to leave Myanmar in six months due to a deteriorating human rights situation that “no longer allows TotalEnergies to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country.” The company has operated the Yadana gas project since the 1990s in partnership with Chevron and PTTEP.
“Total’s transfer of ownership shares to a military-controlled company will further enrich the junta at the expense of human rights,” said Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch. “Other energy companies looking to exit should make sure they do so responsibly, without contributing to the junta’s coffers.”
Since the February 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar, the junta has imposed a brutal nationwide crackdown on all opposition. The junta’s widespread and systematic abuses, including mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. Security forces have killed over 2,000 people and arbitrarily arrested over 14,000.
In March, the oil and gas project partners approved PTTEP to take over as the operator of Yadana. The division of TotalEnergies’ 31.2 percent stake in both the gas field and pipeline will leave Chevron with 41.1 percent interest, PTTEP with 37.1 percent, and MOGE with 21.8 percent. Chevron also announced plans to withdraw and has indicated its intention to sell its stake to PTTEP, though few details about its exit have been made public.
Natural gas projects in Myanmar generate over US$1 billion in foreign revenue for the junta annually, its single largest source of foreign currency revenue. The money is transmitted in US dollars to MOGE and other military-controlled bank accounts in foreign countries in the form of fees, taxes, royalties, and revenues from the export of natural gas, most of which travels by pipeline to Thailand or China.
On February 21, the European Union imposed new sanctions on junta-controlled businesses including MOGE, the first government entity to do so. However, it also issued a license with ambiguous language that seems to allow exiting companies to relinquish or transfer their shares to MOGE.
Other companies including Woodside, Mitsubishi, Petronas, and ENEOS have announced plans in recent months to withdraw at least in part from operations in Myanmar. Petronas is being replaced as operator of the Yetagun field by Gulf Petroleum Myanmar, according to reports by Myanmar Now and Justice for Myanmar.
When companies exit from Myanmar, they should place their existing shares or property rights into trust or escrow, including shares of exploration or development projects, production, or pipeline transportation ventures, to ensure the revenues from those shares do not benefit the military. If exiting companies determine that they must sell or transfer their shares to another business entity, they should ensure that those entities will respect international sanctions and follow international standards on business and human rights.
Adopting these measures would be consistent with companies’ responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which state that “appropriate action” in cases in which business activities are enabling rights abuses includes consideration of “whether terminating the relationship with the entity itself would have adverse human rights consequences.”
Concerned governments should join the EU in sanctioning MOGE while specifying that transfers of ownership to the junta are prohibited. The US in particular is in a key position to impose sanctions since payments in the gas sector – even those handled by non-US companies – are typically made in US dollars and require the involvement of correspondent US or EU banks to finalize, or “settle,” large dollar or Euro transactions. Additional sanctions would also help ensure that the junta is not able to evade the new EU sanctions in other jurisdictions.
PTTEP and South Korea’s POSCO, the two main energy companies remaining in Myanmar, should signal their support for such measures. The largest gas revenue payments to junta-controlled accounts are made via PTT, PTTEP’s parent company, which purchases about 80 percent of Myanmar’s exported natural gas from Yadana as well as the Zawtika gas field, which it operates itself. In April, PTTEP announced it was withdrawing from the nearly depleted Yetagun field. POSCO runs the second largest project, Shwe.
Human Rights Watch has previously written to all of these companies and their shareholders, urging them to support sanctions on gas revenues. Human Rights Watch has also urged other governments including the US, UK, Australia, and Japan to adopt the EU’s approach and sanction Myanmar’s military-owned companies such as MOGE.
“The US and other governments should follow the EU’s lead by urgently imposing measures that will cut the junta off from its millions in gas revenue before companies indifferent to rights take over the payment flows,” Jeannerod said. “Junta leaders need to face economic consequences for the atrocities they are carrying out across Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-07-19
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Oil and gas, Sanctions - general, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Indian firm Sandeep Metalcraft Private Limited is supplying fuzes to the Myanmar military, directly supporting its attacks against the people of Myanmar that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Indian firm’s ongoing business with the Myanmar military is exposed in a Justice For Myanmar investigation.
Fuzes are devices that cause detonation in bombs and artillery.
The most recent shipment from Sandeep Metalcraft was on March 25, 2022, consisting of 3,000 fuzes, according to records from the Panjiva trade database. This followed a shipment of 1,000 fuzes in 2020 and 5 fuzes in 2019.
While the records of two later shipments did not specify the type of fuzes, the 2019 shipment was of time mechanical fuze 447, designed for 84mm Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles.
The Myanmar military has used 84mm Carl Gustaf rounds during attacks in ethnic areas.
Saab Group, a Swedish corporation that manufactures Carl Gustaf launchers and munitions, did not respond to questions from Justice For Myanmar regarding licencing of fuzes to India’s Ordnance Factory Board and the Sandeep Metalcraft shipments to Myanmar.
The fuzes were sent to the private Myanmar military supplier, Creative Exploration Ltd, formerly named mySpace International.
Creative Exploration is a major broker of arms and equipment for the Myanmar Police Force.
The company is owned by Dr Kyaw Kyaw Htun and his wife, Zar Phyu Tin Soe, the daughter of a former military officer who was Myanmar’s ambassador to Russia. Kyaw Kyaw Htun is a former military officer and graduate of the Defence Services Technological Academy.
Since 2020, Creative Exploration has also imported US digital forensics technology from the US company, Oxygen Forensics, and a digital forensics examination station from the US firm Sirichie, both via Indian suppliers.
Justice For Myanmar calls on India to impose an immediate arms embargo on the Myanmar military.
Sweden must suspend exports and licence production agreements with Indian arms manufacturers for launchers and munitions, and investigate if any of the Sandeep Metalcraft shipments to Myanmar contain Swedish technology.
Fellow members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), Australia, Japan and the USA, must use their influence to stop the flow of arms from India to the Myanmar military.
Sanctions must urgently be imposed on Creative Exploration, Sandeep Metalcraft, their owners and all other Myanmar military arms suppliers.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “India’s supply of fuzes to the Myanmar military is inexcusable.
“India is directly supporting the junta’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians by allowing the export of key components in the very weapons the military is using to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“The junta has used airstrikes and shelling to bomb homes and villages, kill and maim people and forcibly displace an estimated 690,000, in a nationwide campaign of terror.
“As a democratic country and a neighbour of Myanmar, we appeal to the Indian government to stand with the people of Myanmar, not war criminals and their illegitimate junta.
“We call on India to impose an immediate arms embargo on the Myanmar military and end complicity in the junta’s atrocity crimes.
“It is deeply concerning that a Swedish company may be tied to the provision of weapons that are killing innocent people in Myanmar
“We demand Sweden immediately suspend exports and licencing of launchers and munitions until India stops the flow of arms to the terrorist junta.”
More information:
Read our investigation, India supplying fuzes to Myanmar military, deepening complicity in its atrocity crimes..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-07-15
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions, Human Rights and international relations
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Size:
113.89 KB 188.53 KB
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Description:
"Kirin Holdings has announced a share buyback with their joint ventures, Myanmar Brewery and the smaller Mandalay Brewery, which will see the company exit Myanmar and place their business partner, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), in control.
The deal will ensure the continued operations of the business, providing ongoing revenue for the Myanmar military through MEHL.
Kirin holds 51% of Myanmar Brewery, to MEHL’s 49%.
According to Kirin’s statement, the share transfer price is approximately 22.4 billion JPY (324 billion MMK or 163.9 million USD).
In November 2020, Kirin suspended dividend payments to MEHL. The company has not disclosed what will happen to the accrued dividends and the company’s bank balance when it exits Myanmar.
Civil society in Myanmar, Japan and across the world have called on Kirin to responsibly end their business with MEHL. Since the military’s illegal coup attempt, a mass boycott of Myanmar Beer has had a major impact on the company’s profits.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: "Kirin’s decision to hand over control of Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery to military conglomerate Myanma Economic Holdings Limited is a windfall for the Myanmar military and will ensure a continued stream of revenue to finance atrocity crimes.
"Kirin appears to be excusing this irresponsible exit by claiming it is in the best interests of workers.
"The responsible move is to deny funds to the terrorist Myanmar military and remedy negative impacts to workers through compensation.
"Instead, Kirin has chosen to prioritise their bottom line over their human rights responsibilities and the lives of the people of Myanmar, who are subjected to daily arrest, murder, torture, the burning of homes and villages, indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling by the Myanmar military.
“Kirin’s irresponsible exit comes as Myanmar is in crisis, as the junta wages a campaign of terror against the Myanmar people, aided and abetted by Kirin’s business with MEHL.
"Kirin must reverse this deplorable decision or be held accountable for their complicity in the military’s international crimes.
“We demand Kirin disclose their human rights due diligence, and the fate of the dividends that they had been withholding from MEHL.
"Kirin’s share transfer involves their Singapore subsidiary, Kirin Holdings Singapore Pte. Singapore should prevent transactions through their financial system that benefit the Myanmar military, including Kirin’s US-sanctioned business partner, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited."..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
112.19 KB
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Description:
"Justice For Myanmar welcomes the UK’s second round of sanctions targeting arms dealers.
The UK has designated three Russian arms suppliers and three Myanmar arms brokers who supply the Myanmar Air Force and are complicit in the junta’s atrocity crimes.
The Myanmar companies are:
Myanmar New Era Trading Company Limited has procured Mi-17 parts from Russia since the military’s attempted coup. It is linked to International Gateways Group.
Sky Aviator Company Limited is a Myanmar miliary arms broker that has procured equipment from Russia and Ukraine since the attempted coup, including YAK-130 support equipment from Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET), refitted turbojet engines from United Engine Corporation and engine parts from Rosoboronexport and Motor Sich. According to a proposal leaked to Justice For Myanmar, Sky Aviator represents JSC Russian Helicopters in Myanmar.
Synpex Shwe Company Limited procured helicopter parts for the Myanmar military from Sins Avia Trading House (CNS Aviation) since the attempted coup. The company is also a supplier of the Directorate of Defence Industries.
The Russian companies are:
JSC Gorizont manufactures the Camcopter S-100 UAV under licence from Austria’s Schiebel Corporation. The Myanmar Navy and Air Force have both procured Camcopter S-100 UAVs. Following the Myanmar military’s attempted coup, Gorizont shipped UAV parts to Miya Win International Limited, a Myanmar military arms broker. These included items procured from Schiebel in Austria, suggesting an attempt to circumvent EU sanctions. Miya Win International was sanctioned by the UK on March 25.
Sins Avia Trading House LLC (CNS Aviation) exported helicopter parts to the Myanmar military arms broker Synpex Shwe Company Limited in March 2021.
Ural Avia LLC specialises in the supply of aviation parts and repair, and has sold Mi-17 parts to the Myanmar military arms broker Dynasty International Company Limited since the attempted coup, according to records from ImportGenius. Dynasty International and its director, Dr Aung Moe Myint, were sanctioned by the UK on March 25.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “We welcome the UK’s targeting of arms suppliers, which enable the junta’s campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.
"The military’s continued war crimes and crimes against humanity are enabled by their access to arms, equipment, jet fuel and revenue.
"The military’s supply chains must be systematically targeted with sanctions to stop their international crimes.
"We call for urgent and coordinated international action against the Myanmar military’s economic interests and business relationships, including from regional democracies Australia, India, Japan and South Korea which have so far failed to act."..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-06-16
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
122.88 KB 178.91 KB
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Description:
"Mobile operator Mytel, trading under the company Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited, is a key pillar in the Myanmar military’s business network providing revenue, technology and surveillance capabilities.
Telecom International Myanmar shareholders are the military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation, Vietnam Ministry of National Defence-owned Viettel Global Investment and Myanmar National Telecom Holdings.
A Justice For Myanmar investigation based on leaked documents found that Mytel has aggressively recruited members of the Myanmar military through the “Banner of Victory” campaign, in which Mytel staff worked with base commanders to sign up military personnel with customised phone numbers that include an individual’s military ID number.
State officials and business leaders were also incentivised to sign up to Mytel through generous promotions, including ones that previously targeted the State Counsellor and ministers.
As Justice For Myanmar has documented, Mytel works in partnership with the Myanmar Army’s Directorate of Signals and builds infrastructure on military bases.
The company’s biggest shareholder, Viettel, is a high-tech arms manufacturer that is involved in tech transfer with the Myanmar military.
According to an analysis of a Myanmar Investment Commission proposal, released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, the Myanmar military is projected to earn over US$700 million in ten years from Mytel, which will finance continued war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “There is now extensive evidence of the complicity of Mytel in the Myanmar military’s international crimes.
“Mytel is putting the lives of Myanmar people at risk through the provision of revenue, technology and surveillance capabilities for the Myanmar military, which is a terrorist organisation.
“The people of Myanmar have taken a clear stand by boycotting Mytel and all other military products. It is time for international governments to hear the voices of Myanmar and designate Telecom International Myanmar for sanctions.
“More than 1,900 people have been murdered by the Myanmar military since the attempted coup, including children, and over 11,000 are languishing in detention, where torture is routine, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
“The Myanmar military’s crimes are enabled by their business interests and action is needed now to stop the flow of funds to the military junta and its conglomerates.
“The Myanmar military cartel must be dismantled.”
Mytel provides the Myanmar military with dangerous surveillance capabilities over their own troops.
Since the illegal attempted military coup, courageous people’s soldiers and police have joined the civil disobedience movement, taking huge personal risk to leave the terrorist Myanmar military.
The Myanmar military can track the communications and location of these soldiers and police.
Justice For Myanmar urges military personnel joining the Civil Disobedience Movement to not discuss plans on the phone and destroy their SIM cards before defecting.
More information:
See Justice For Myanmar’s web feature on customer recruitment and surveillance, Leaking military secrets for profit
See Justice For Myanmar’s web feature, Boycott and coup attempt cost Mytel USD$24.9 million in three months
See Justice For Myanmar’s web feature, How hundreds of millions of dollars from Mytel subscribers will flow to military generals
See Justice For Myanmar’s report, Nodes of Corruption, Lines of Abuse: How Mytel, Viettel and a global network of businesses support the international crimes of the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-06-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, Sanctions - general
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111.53 KB 120.93 KB
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Sub-title:
Land Lease Payments May Finance Human Rights Violations by the Myanmar Military
Description:
"Eight civil society organizations that are deeply concerned about the business relationship that Japanese companies have with the Myanmar military sent a letter dated May 24, 2022 to 101 corporate investors holding shares in Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd. or Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. Land lease payments made by the two companies in connection with a real estate development project in Yangon (commonly known as “Y Complex”), estimated to be about 2 million USD per year, and will be a source of funding for the Myanmar military.
The Myanmar military for decades has committed grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes with total impunity, and on February 1, 2021, began an attempted coup. The civil society organizations have pointed out to Tokyo Tatemono and Daiwa House on numerous occasions that they may be complicit in grave human rights violations perpetrated by the military and urged them to act in accordance with their own human rights policies and international standards. However, neither company has officially announced specific plans to avoid the risk of its activities in Myanmar abetting grave human rights violations and international crimes by the Myanmar military.
The letter requests the corporate investors in Tokyo Tatemono and Daiwa House to promptly engage with the two companies to urge them to take measures to ensure that their business activities do not benefit the Myanmar military. The letter further asks the corporate investors to consider divestment if the companies do not take sufficient measures..."
Source/publisher:
Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth Japan, Justice For Myanmar, Network Against Japan Arms Trade, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation, Japan International Volunteer Center, Pacific Asia Resource Center, Human Right Now
Date of publication:
2022-05-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
90.61 KB 101.54 KB
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Description:
"May 23, 2022, Washington, D.C.–This week, Chevron’s shareholders will vote on a resolution that challenges the fossil fuel company’s partnership with the Myanmar (Burma) military. The shareholders that proposed the resolution are calling on the company to use arbitration proceedings as part of a responsible divestment strategy instead of treating the junta as a recognized government and legitimate business partner.
Since seizing power in a coup in February 2021, the Myanmar military has destabilized the region, pushed millions into a humanitarian crisis, and murdered more than 1,800 people, while more than 10,000 are currently detained. Profits from the Yadana offshore gas project, in which Chevron holds a major interest, are still funding the junta and fueling its human rights atrocities, despite Chevron’s announcing plans to withdraw from the country earlier this year.
EarthRights International Director of Strategy and Campaigns Keith Slack issued the following statement:
“Revenues from Myanmar’s offshore gas projects are the military junta’s largest source of foreign revenue, funding its atrocities. Chevron’s and other oil companies’ payments go to an illegal, criminal junta that has taken control of government bank accounts and is actively misappropriating state assets in order to fuel human rights abuses.
“EarthRights urges Chevron’s shareholders to approve a resolution on doing business with governments that are complicit in human rights abuses. Multiple Chevron shareholders have acknowledged that while its contracts are with the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the entity is nothing more than a government department; we urge Chevron to acknowledge that the junta is not a recognized government. Doing so enables it to rely on contractual obligations to divert revenues from the junta as part of a planned exit from Myanmar. It would also require Chevron to respect demands from Myanmar civil society not to bring in a new operator for the Yadana gas project if it will collude with the junta. As proposed by its own shareholders, the company should initiate international arbitration rather than persisting with its strategy of ignoring Myanmar’s National Unity Government and siding with a genocidal junta.
“Chevron’s irresponsible actions in Myanmar mirror a pattern we’ve seen worldwide. In 2008, EarthRights sued Chevron for human rights abuses at a protest site in Nigeria. In 2005, Chevron acquired Unocal, a company with a long track record of human rights abuses. Chevron has the moral, legal, and financial obligation to avoid fueling genocide and crimes against humanity. Since the coup began last year, human rights organizations worldwide have urged companies, including Chevron, to stop providing financial support to the Myanmar military.
“To actually live up to its tagline of the ‘Human Energy Company,’ Chevron needs to walk its talk. Its long history of undermining human and environmental rights and its support for the Myanmar junta shows us that it’s actually the ‘Anti-Human Energy Company.’ Chevron shareholders now have an opportunity and an obligation to stop fueling human rights abuses in Myanmar.” ..."
Source/publisher:
EarthRights International
Date of publication:
2022-05-23
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"Lebanon’s M1 Group has transferred control of Telenor Myanmar to the Myanmar military linked Shwe Byain Phyu conglomerate on Thursday, May 12, completing Telenor Group’s sale of the mobile network.
The sale has violated UK, EU and Norwegian sanctions due to the inclusion of lawful interception technology.
In the final stage of the sale, the Cayman Islands registered M1 Infrastructure Ltd transferred 310 shares in Investcom Pte Ltd, a Singapore holding company, to Shwe Byain Phyu Telecom Company Limited, according to corporate records.
Investcom Pte Ltd owns 100% of Telenor Myanmar Limited, largely through redeemable preference shares.
Shwe Byain Phyu Telecom Company Limited is a Myanmar registered company, fully owned by Shwe Byain Phyu Company Limited.
As a result of the share transfer, Shwe Byain Phyu owns 80% of Telenor Myanmar, up from its earlier 49% stake
M1 Group is owned by the family of the current Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.
Sanctions violations
As part of the sale, M1 Group transferred a German-made Utimaco lawful interception gateway (LIG) to Shwe Byain Phyu, in breach of UK sanctions on Myanmar, which are in force in the Cayman Islands as a British Overseas Territory.
The Utimaco LIG was delivered to Myanmar and installed by Telenor in 2018. Telenor Group then transferred the LIG to M1 Group in March 2022, violating Norwegian sanctions.
When activated, the LIG will give the Myanmar military junta, a terrorist organisation, capabilities to monitor calls and SMS made over the Telenor Myanmar network in real time.
The latest transaction between M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu follows the first stage of the sale from Telenor Group to an M1 Group subsidiary registered in Cyprus, in violation of EU sanctions due to the transfer of the LIG.
The sale has exposed the historical call data of more than 18 million people to the junta, which it can use to identify, locate, detain, torture and kill Myanmar people. This may make Telenor Group and the Norwegian government complicit in crimes against humanity.
Telenor Group failed to do human rights due diligence on their ultimate buyer, Shwe Byain Phyu, in breach of their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Telenor Myanmar’s new players
Shwe Byain Phyu chair Thein Win Zaw is the chairperson of the Telenor Myanmar Limited board, and his son, Win Paing Kyaw, is the deputy CEO. Thein Win Zaw’s wife, Tin Latt Min, also sits on the board. Other Telenor Myanmar board members are Hicham Ramadan and Rana Shatila of M1 Group.
Telenor Myanmar’s new CEO, Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui, sits on the board of Investcom Pte Lte, along with Rana Shatila, Thein Win Zaw, Win Paing Kyaw and Benjamin Szeto Yu Hwei.
From 2007-2010, Siddiqui was CEO of the telecommunications company MTN Afghanistan, according to his Linkedin page, at a time when the company was accused of paying protection money to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
From 2010 to 2016, Siddiqui was CEO of MTN Sudan, providing a source of revenue to the genocidal al-Bashir regime.
MTN is a South African publicly listed company that acquired M1 Group’s Investcom in 2006. As part of the takeover, the Mikati family gained a 10% stake in MTN.
Justice For Myanmar calls on the UK, Cypriot and Norwegian governments to urgently investigate Telenor Group and M1 Group for violating sanctions on Myanmar.
We call on the Oslo Stock Exchange, which lists Telenor, to investigate the legality of Telenor’s Myanmar sale under Norwegian and EU law.
We call on Singapore to investigate the use of its territory by Telenor Group, M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu in violation of UK, EU and Norwegian sanctions, and to take concrete steps against Singapore registered businesses that are complicit in the Myanmar military’s international crimes.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “It is reprehensible that Telenor Group and the Norwegian government have completed the sale of Telenor Myanmar to Shwe Byain Phyu Group, wilfully ignoring sanctions regulations and their human rights responsibilities.
"The junta has weaponised telecommunications in its campaign of terror, and Telenor Myanmar is now part of its arsenal.
"We call on the UK, Norway and Cyprus to investigate sanctions breaches from the transfer of lawful interception technology from Telenor to M1 Group, and from M1 Group to Shwe Byain Phyu, and ensure accountability.
"The fact that this transaction has taken place in Singapore yet again shows how its financial system is being exploited by the Myanmar military and their associates. Singapore must take concrete action to end the use of its territory to finance and arm the Myanmar military.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-05-16
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
211.84 KB
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Description:
"The Institute for Economics & Peace responds to an open letter regarding its recent Global Terrorism report.
We have recently been contacted regarding concerns arising from Myanmar’s listing in the 2022 Global Terrorism Index. This letter is a response to your article dated 11 May 2022, titled ‘An Open Letter to the Institute for Economics & Peace.’
IEP welcomes feedback and we are open to receiving critiques of our research. This is demonstrated by our actions in the amendment of the report, and the public statement issued prior to receiving the open letter: Statement regarding Myanmar & the Global Terrorism Index – Vision of Humanity.
Having now received the open letter, we feel several of the characterisations deserve the right of reply.
IEP is an internationally respected not-for-profit organisation. Our aim is to understand the drivers and the economic benefits of peace, and our research is highly regarded by many of the leading institutions in the world. IEP’s work on peace is cited in thousands of courses, and we train many thousands each month through our online academies and in-person workshops.
Throughout IEP’s history, we have been engaged in both developmental aid and peacebuilding projects in Myanmar. IEP and its key personnel have been involved in Myanmar for over twenty years, and currently has several projects with which it is actively engaged in, including water, education and peacebuilding training.
The Global Terrorism Index
One critique of the 2022 Global Terrorism Index has been the perceived failure to address acts perpetrated by the junta. The Global Terrorism Index, since its inception, has always excluded acts of state-sponsored terror. IEP covers state-sponsored terror in its other reports.
We acknowledge that the classification of acts of terrorism is a difficult and sensitive topic. There are a variety of perceptions toward the definition of terrorism. Many acts that could be considered legitimate acts of war can become unclear, depending upon the circumstances of a particular attack. For example, attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq on US soldiers are considered terrorism under certain circumstances by sources other than IEP.
IEP’s approach to this is to draw on credible data sources, and to align with the coding of these sources. In the case of specific attacks mentioned in the open letter, these were codified as terror attacks at the time of writing. However, after constructive discussions from proactive members of the community, the decision was made to remove these from the report.
IEP’s response
When the initial concerns were raised, IEP engaged with a number of external experts who constructively worked with us to assess the issues and decide on an appropriate action. None of these individuals signed the open letter. It is from these discussions that we took the decision to amend the Global Terrorism Index and issue a public statement.
It was only after we had taken this action that we received the open letter. Given our willingness to engage, we are disappointed that we were not contacted before the letter was written. At the point of sharing, our response was public and should have been acknowledged.
Given this, we feel that the open letter process could have been conducted in a far less peaceful way. What is particularly disappointing is that out of the hundred signatories, only one individual contacted IEP prior to the publishing of the letter.
In conclusion
The issues surrounding Myanmar are deeply sensitive. We carefully considered the concerns raised and redacted Myanmar from the 2022 Global Terrorism Index.
We fail to see how this open letter has contributed towards constructive dialogue. We should surely all be working towards the same goal around these issues, and seeking to create meaningful change in the world..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2022-05-16
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Economy and social justice (global), The Burmese military's role in the economy, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Description:
"Activists are urging US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which provides a financial lifeline to Myanmar’s junta. The European Union imposed sanctions on the firm in February.
More than 637 domestic organizations, including protest committees, labor unions, women’s rights and educational groups and over 220,000 individuals signed an open letter to Biden, according to the Blood Money Campaign (BMC), which lobbies to financially isolate the junta.
The BMC called on Biden to listen to Myanmar’s people and sanction MOGE.
“The United States, it is time to stop protecting democracy only with words,” said Ko Ye, a BMC spokesman.
The group reported that the junta seized around US$1.5 billion in gas revenue from state bank accounts after the 2021 coup to fund genocide and murder.
“We don’t ask the US to provide weapons. We only ask the US to stop paying the fascist regime for natural resources,” Ko Ye said.
MOGE has been a lifeline for military governments for decades and an estimated 50 percent of foreign currency came from natural gas and Myanmar earned around $1.5 billion from oil and gas in the 2020-21 financial year, according to pre-coup forecasts.
The campaign urged the Biden administration to stop gas revenues reaching the junta by working with allies in Thailand and South Korea to divert income to accounts held until the civilian National Unity Government is recognized.
It said gas companies and banks which traded with the junta should face money-laundering charges. It said the junta-controlled Myanma Foreign Trade Bank should face sanctions for money laundering.
International oil and gas firms like Total, Chevron and Woodside left Myanmar after the coup but the junta’s investment minister Aung Naing Oo said only 10 percent of Myanmar’s oil and gas investment came from the three firms and their withdrawal did not impact the economy. China, the largest source, provides around 27 percent of oil and gas investment.
Human rights organizations are urging Total not to pay the junta about $250 million it owes Myanmar.
Since the coup in February last year, the regime has killed more than 1,800 people and it uses airstrikes, artillery, arson attacks, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests against civilians..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-05-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, Oil and gas, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more
Description:
"To the Institute of Economics and Peace:
Dear Steve Killelea, Board of Directors,
As scholars and analysts who specialise in politics and society in Myanmar, we express deep concern over your recent Global Terrorism Index report, in which the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) depicts anti-junta resistance in Myanmar as “terrorism”. Indeed, we strongly disagree with your overall depiction of events in Myanmar, which is analytically flawed, morally bankrupt, and politically problematic.
According to your report, the “country with the largest total increases in deaths from terrorism was Myanmar, where the number of people killed rose from 24 in 2020 to 521 in 2021… Anti-junta armed groups were responsible for over half of terrorism deaths in Myanmar in 2021. The majority of deaths occurred during attacks targeting government and military personnel.”
The examples that you cite for what you call “deaths from terrorism” are attacks on military personnel by anti-junta forces, such as:
“Gunmen killed 40 soldiers in the Sagaing region. No group had claimed responsibility, but local media said that anti-junta groups were responsible for the attack“
or a “bomb targeting a military convoy of eight vehicles killed thirty soldiers in the Magway region. The Yesagyo Peoples’ Defence Force, an anti-junta armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack.”
This is analytically flawed. Defining terrorism as targeting military targets contradicts most academic definitions of terrorism, including your own definition on p.6 of the Global Terrorism Index, where you define terrorism as a ‘the systematic threat or use of violence whether for or in opposition to established authority, with the intention of communicating a political, religious or ideological message to a group larger than the victim group, by generating fear and so altering (or attempting to alter) the behaviour of the larger group. Your report consequently exempts “acts of warfare, either irregular or conventional”.
While there is a lack of definite agreement on the phenomenon of terrorism, most academic literature, indeed, differentiates between “guerrilla” and “terrorist” violence for good reason. Guerrillas seek to effectuate political change by targeting the state and its agents. They commonly do so by means of irregular warfare (precisely as in the above examples provided in your report).
Terrorists, in contrast, intentionally target civilians in order to achieve their goals. The direct targets of terrorism (civilians) serve as “message generators” in the process of “violence-based communication” with the main target of terrorism (e.g., the state or society). Their aim is to spark terror amongst civilian populations. Your report cites no such incidents in Myanmar.
This is also why guerrillas can abide by International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In fact, the IHL regulating non-international armed conflict – by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, as well as Additional Protocol II – renders armed forces as legitimate military targets (terrorist violence stands, by definition, in contradiction of IHL because of its targeting of civilians).
Attacks on soldiers by non-state resistance forces in Myanmar are thus clearly within the bounds of the laws of war as long as they follow the principles of distinction and proportionality. Nothing in your report suggests that they do not. Even if one included attacks on police forces, the situation in Myanmar remains firmly within these legal boundaries. This is because police forces in Myanmar are under direct control of the military, regularly act in support of military troops, and frequently use battlefield-grade weaponry, such as assault rifles. Anti-junta forces do not target civilians in order to generate fear and alter the behavior of a larger group. They target their state opponent directly.
But presenting non-state armed resistance forces that engage in irregular warfare against legitimate military targets as terrorists is not only analytically flawed. It is also morally bankrupt given a context of state terrorism, i.e., a situation where the state itself uses indiscriminate violence against civilian populations in order to punish and intimidate its opponents. A truthful report of the biggest terrorist attacks in Myanmar in the past year, would thus not be the killing of 40 soldiers in Sagaing or 30 soldiers in Magwai, as cited in your report.
Instead, the biggest terrorist attacks in the last year were the massacres in Hlaing Tharyar in March 2021 and Bago, where security forces killed more than 65 and 80 unarmed civilians during peaceful protests respectively. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg of state terrorism in Myanmar, where security forces have committed countless atrocities for decades, including genocide, and continue doing so, for instance, through systematically destroying civilian settlements across Myanmar, in what the United Nations special envoy for human rights in Myanmar, rightly describes as “a campaign of terror”.
Notwithstanding these disturbing shortcomings, international think tanks like yours produce “facts” about the world, breaking down complex politics into easily digestible pieces of information for political stakeholders, including policymakers. This is why the distortion of reality in your report ultimately becomes politically problematic. It serves to delegitimize the legitimate and lawful actions of anti-junta guerrillas in Myanmar as unlawful terrorism. In doing so, your report mobilizes the same narrative as the military junta in Myanmar. In effect – and in contradiction to its claim of being non-partisan – the IEP is legitimizing and normalizing a terror regime that has illegally toppled a democratically elected government and couped itself to power.
We thus demand that IEP retracts or corrects the sections of your report related to Myanmar, bringing the depicted empirical reality into compliance with academic definitions of terrorism, including your own. Moreover, we demand a public statement that includes an apology to the anti-junta forces in Myanmar for your wrongful depiction of their legitimate and lawful resistance.
Sincerely,
Dr David Brenner, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, University of Sussex
Georg Bauer, PhD candidate, Department of History, University of Vienna
Dr Hans Steinmüller, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, LSE
Dr Laurence Cox, Associate Professor, National University of Ireland Maynooth
Dr. Charlie Thame, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University
Dr John Buchanan, Associate, Asia Center, Harvard University
Dr Ronan Lee, Doctoral Prize Fellow, Loughborough University London
Dr. Su Lin Lewis, Associate Professor, University of Bristol
Dr. Jonathan Saha, Associate Professor, University of Durham
Dr Chika Watanabe, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester
Dr Alexandre Pelletier, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Laval University
Dr Jenny Hedström, Associate Professor, Swedish Defence University
Dr Matthew J Walton, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
Dr Elisabeth Olivius, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Umeå University
Professor Bridget Anderson, University of Bristol
Associate Professor Anthony Ware, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Deakin University, Australia
Dr. Gerard McCarthy, Research Fellow, National University of Singapore Asia Research Institute
Htet Min Lwin, PhD student, Department of Humanities, York University, Toronto
Dr Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia
Dr Morten B. Pedersen, Senior Lecturer, International Politics, University of New South Wales Canberra
Christopher Lamb, Honorary Associate Professor, University of Melbourne; President, Australia Myanmar Institute
Dr Joseph Lo Bianco, Emeritus Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
Dr Charlotte Galloway, Honorary Associate Professor, Australian National University, Canberra
Dr Patrick Meehan, Department of Development Studies, SOAS University of London
Kim Jolliffe, independent researcher focused on security and conflict in Myanmar
Dr Kevin Woods, Research Fellow, East-West Center, Hawai’i
Dr Susan Banki, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney
Dr Nick Cheesman, Associate Professor, Australian National University
Dr Kate Crosby, Professor of Buddhist Studies, King’s College, London
Luke James Corbin, PhD Researcher, Australian National University
Dr Kristina Kironska, Senior Researcher, Palacky University Olomouc
Dr. Mike McGovern, Professor, University of Michigan
Dr. Elliott Prasse-Freeman, Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore
Kei Nemoto, Professor, Sophia University, Tokyo
Adam Czarnota, Professor, Wroclaw University, Wroclaw & Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
Dr. Leedom Lefferts, Carolina Asia Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Prof. Dr. Judith Beyer, Head of the Working Group “Social and Political Anthropology”, University of Konstanz. Germany
Dominique Dillabough-Lefebvre, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, LSE
Chu May Paing, PhD Researcher, University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. Sai Latt, Research Affiliate, York University, Toronto, Canada, Chiangmai University, Thailand
Anders Kirstein Moeller, PhD Student, Department of Geography, NUS
Dr. Nicola Tannenbaum, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Tharaphi Than, Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University
Dr Tin Mar Oo, MSc Student, Post Graduate School of Politics and Science, University of Edinburgh
Kristian Stokke, Professor, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo
Dr Peter Bjorklund, Independent post-doc Researcher, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Dr Michael Edwards, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge
Dr Sharon Bell, Independent Researcher, Aotearoa, New Zealand
Dr Leanne M. Kelly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Deakin University, Melbourne
Dr Johanna Garnett, Lecturer in Peace Studies, University of New England, Armidale
Dr Bill Vistarini, Australian National University (Retired)
Dr Anne Décobert, Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Matt Schissler, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
Godwin Yidana, PhD Researcher in Peace Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
Professor Melissa Crouch, Faculty of Law & Justice, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Dr Renaud Egreteau, Associate Professor, Department of Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong
Dorothy Mason, Researcher, Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University
Dr. Roger Lee Huang, Lecturer in Counterterrorism and Political Violence, Macquarie University
Dr. Wen-Chin Chang, Research Fellow, Academia Sinica
Moe Thuzar, Doctoral Candidate, History Department, National University of Singapore
Dr Yuri Takahashi, Lecturer in Burmese, Australian National University
Aung Kaung Myat, MPhil Candidate, University of Hong Kong
Peter Suante, PhD Researcher, The Department of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Dr R.J. May, Emeritus Fellow, Australian National University
Dr. Lisa Brooten, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Media, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
Dr Michael Breen, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, The University of Melbourne
Dr Vicki-Ann Ware, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Australia
Mr. Tual Sawn Khai, PhD researcher in Sociology and Social Policy, School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Professor Bill Pritchard, Professor in Human Geography, The University of Sydney
Jack Jenkins Hill, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University College London (UCL)
David Scott Mathieson, Independent analyst and author specializing on Burma
Dr Cecile Medail, Visiting Fellow, Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University
Dr Elisabeth Jean Wood, Co-Director of Agrarian Studies and Professor of Political Science, International and Area Studies, Yale University
Dr. Rosalie Metro, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum, University of Missouri-Columbia
Dr Tomas Cole, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University
Dr Dominique Caouette, Professor of Political Science, Université de Montréal
Prof. David I. Steinberg, Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies Emeritus, Georgetown University
James F. Cerretani, Goldsmiths, University of London, Anthropology
Dr Elin Bjarnegård, Associate Professor, Department of Government, Uppsala University
Martin Smith, author and independent analyst on conflict in Myanmar
Siew Han Yeo, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto
Dr Anna Plunket, Lecturer in International Relations, King’s College London
Dr Jasnea Sarma, Lecturer in Political Geography, University of Zurich
Minn Tent Bo, London based Independent Consultant focused on human rights, democracy and elections in Myanmar
Leigh Mitchell, London-based Independent Consultant focused on governance, development finance/effectiveness and investment in Myanmar
Samia C. Akhter-Khan, PhD candidate, Department of Health Service & Population Research, King’s College London
Ambassador Kelley Currie (ret.)
Dr Andrew Fagan, Director of Human Rights Centre, at the University of Essex
Nora Wuttke, PhD Researcher, SOAS University of London
Catherine Morris, Independent researcher, and Associate of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Prof. James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University
Professor Lee Jones, Professor of Political Economy and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Liyun Wendy Choo, Professional Teaching Fellow, University of Auckland
Dr Sally Bamford, Alumni, Australian National University
Dr. Francesco Buscemi, Research Fellow, Einaudi Foundation
Dr Justine Chambers, Postdoctoral Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies
Professor Kirsten McConnachie, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of East Anglia
Professor Martin Krygier AM, Gordon Samuels Professor of Law and Social Theory, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Ponpavi Sangsuradej, PhD Researcher. Faculty of History. SOAS, University of London
Alex Moodie, PhD Candidate, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University
Vishnu Prasad, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Paul Taylor, Technical Adviser and Independent Myanmar Researcher
Dr. Stephen Campbell, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University
Dr. Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung, Professor, Political Science Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Thawng Za Pum, Doctoral student, Institute of Political Science, University of Erlangen–Nuremberg
Francesca Chiu, PhD Researcher, School of International Development, University of East Anglia
Oren Samet, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Greg Tyrosvoutis, EdD Candidate, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, University of Toronto
Richard Roewer, Research Fellow, German Institute for Global and Area Studies, DPhil Student, University of Oxford
Dr Kerstin Duell, Goethe University Frankfurt
Khin Thet San, Research Fellow, South Asia Institute, SOAS, University of London
Dr Stefano Ruzza, Associate Professor, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2022-05-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Economy and social justice (global), Human Rights and international relations, The Burmese military's role in the economy
Language:
more