NAYPIDAW, Myanmar: Myanmar’s junta has said it has dismissed a high-ranking general over alleged bribery and corruption.
Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun, 55, was the seventh-highest leader in the State Administration Council, the ruling junta. He was sanctioned by the United States and other nations.
He was suddenly removed from his posts as chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee and the Central Committee for Ensuring the Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods, the regime said in a statement issued on Monday.
Earlier this month, authorities detained Moe Myint Tun, who allegedly accepted millions of dollars in bribes from businessmen over the past two years, but it was unclear whether he would face trial.
He is under house arrest and being questioned in the capital, Naypyitaw, according to the traders, who declined to be named for security reasons.
His removal is part of a crackdown on trade and finance officials, traders and exporters amid economic turmoil and sanctions as the junta tries to shore up foreign earnings and soaring commodity prices, sources say.
Lawyer Kyee Myint said that even if top military generals were found to be corrupt, top junta leader Snr. Gene. Min Aung Hlaing will not put them on trial, but only remove them from their positions.
“They will never admit that their members are corrupt,” he said. “That’s why their case will never go to court. I don’t think they will be charged under any section of the law, but only removed from their positions. They will remove these officials to make it appear that only a few of them were corrupt.”
His duties as chairman were entrusted to General Mya Tun Oo, another member of the State Administration Council. Moe Myint Tun was appointed to these positions on 2 February 2021, a day after the military took control of the elected government in a coup d’état.
Legal experts and political analysts said the scandal shows that senior military officers can easily abuse their positions and that effective action should be taken against Moe Myint Tun if he is found guilty of bribery and corruption.
The retired brigadier general, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said if the allegations were true, authorities should prosecute Moe Myint Tun under military regulations.
“Corruption should not occur at any level,” he said. “Since it is customary in our country for people to give gifts to show respect, this encourages corruption. They don’t happen to notice that they are committing corruption while showing respect.”
Moe Myint Tun has been sanctioned by numerous governments, including those in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, for his involvement in the military coup, the ensuing suppression of nonviolent demonstrators by the military and police, the killing of citizens, and his gravity. Myanmar’s abuses of human rights.
Sanctions include freezing any assets in those countries, banning transactions with their citizens, and banning travel.
Earlier this month, the junta arrested another high-ranking military official — General Yan Naung Soe, joint secretary of the Central Committee for Ensuring the Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods — amid a crackdown and investigation by trade ministry officials, online news outlet Myanmar Now reported.
The committee is responsible for procuring US dollars for the purpose of granting business licenses and other business transactions.
The authorities arrested and interrogated him before Moe Myint Tun was fired. After that, the junta summoned businessmen from various industries to Naypyitaw for questioning, said an import-export businessman who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The lieutenant general was fired based on their testimony, he said.
Authorities have also summoned former interior minister Lt. Gen. Soe Htut and deputy trade minister Nyunt Aung, according to Yangon traders. RFA has not yet confirmed this information.
Moe Myint Tun, Yan Naung Soe and Nyunt Aung allegedly made millions of dollars from their deals with traders and by profiting from the difference between Myanmar’s official exchange rate of 2,100 kyats to the US dollar and the market rate as the kyat plummeted. Myanmar has now announced on Thursday.
Nay Phone Latt, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office of the Shadow Government of National Unity – made up of former civilian leaders and anti-junta activists – said corruption among top military officials has been common for decades and has worsened under ruling juntas.
“The military rulers in our country have always worked for their own interests and the interests of their families, which has caused public poverty,” he said. “Recently, we have seen such corruption getting worse.”
Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls for comment.
Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said he did not know the reason for Moe Myint Tun’s removal and that there was much speculation about frequent changes in the positions of top military leaders.
There have been only two or three changes in top military leadership positions under the State Law and Order Restoration Council (1988-97) or the State Peace and Development Council (1997-2011), the two previous military juntas that ruled Myanmar, he said.
