Election officials to probe finances of United Democratic Party after arrest of wealthy chair 

Election officials to probe finances of United Democratic Party after arrest of wealthy chair 

The Union Election Commission will begin gathering documents from the party on Wednesday 

UDP members rally in Naypyitaw on October 7 (Nyan Hlaing Lin/Myanmar Now) 

Election officials are preparing to investigate how the United Democratic Party (UDP) is funded after its wealthy chair was arrested last month for escaping from prison in 1999. 

Officials from the Naypyitaw branch of the Union Election Commission (UEC) did not give further details about the investigation, other than to say it will begin on Wednesday.  

Authorities have already begun probing the finances of the UDP’s Kyaw Myint, and last week revealed he has assets worth around 23.5 billion kyat ($18.3m). 

His party is fielding candidates in almost every constituency in the country on November 8 despite the fact it has never won a seat in parliament and was relatively unknown until recently. 

 

 

The UDP has spent large sums paying local recruiters across the country to sign up new members. A former employee of Kyaw Myint’s last month told Myanmar Now that he funded the party via one of his companies.

Tun Lin Ko, the head of the UDP’s Naypyitaw office, said the UEC had informed the party of its plans to probe its funding sources.

 

 

“We’ll have our assets inspected as well as the finances, balance sheets and so on,” he told Myanmar Now. 

The UEC will conduct the investigation remotely because of restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, he added. 

“The UEC called the executives from headquarters, and they will send the papers to the UEC themselves, because it’s not easy to travel during this Covid-19 period,” he said.  

Before his arrest Kyaw Myint lived a lavish lifestyle drinking expensive cognac and being chauffeured around in a Lexus. 

He was jailed in 1998 for breaching Myanmar’s business laws amid suspicions that he had been involved in money laundering. 

After he escaped from Mandalay’s Obo prison he took asylum in the US in exchange, he claimed, for giving the government information about drug trafficking in Myanmar.

He later moved to Canada, where he founded the UDP in 2007, before returning to Myanmar in 2013. Authorities are also investigating how he was allowed to return and live freely in the country for years. 

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BBC Burmese journalist Aung Thura was in front of the Dekkhina District court to report on a hearing for National League for Democracy patron Win Htein when he was arrested. Former Mizzima correspondent Than Htike Aung was with him at the time of the arrest.

No further details of the arrest or the reporters’ detention were known at the time of reporting, according to Aung Thura’s relative. 

“I saw some plainclothes officers dragging away a person in trousers into a car,” lawyer Min Min Soe, who was near the court at the time, told Myanmar Now. The man she saw is believed to be Than Htike Aung.  

“Two other officers in plainclothes were hassling another individual in a paso [traditional sarong for men] and glasses,” she said, referring to Aung Thura. “It was quite a scene so I don’t know what happened next.”

BBC News issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying that they are "doing everything [they] can" to find Aung Thura, who they described as being taken away by unidentified men.

“We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe,” the statement said.

As of March 16, a total of 38 journalists had been arrested or targeted for arrest since the February 1 coup. The latest arrests of the BBC and former Mizzima journalists push this number up to 40.  

Only 22 of these reporters have been released. Ten journalists have been charged with violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which has been used against people who are seen as causing fear, spreading fake news, or agitating government employees. Under recent amendments to the law, the charges come with a three-year prison sentence if convicted.

Online news website The Irrawaddy has also been charged by the junta as violating the same statute for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in their reporting of the ongoing anti-regime protests.

Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima had their offices raided and their publishing licenses revoked earlier this month by the regime.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include the BBC's statement, which was not available at the original time of publishing.

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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KIA attacks police bases in Hpakant

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The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) launched attacks against police bases in the jade mining region of Hpakant on Thursday morning, a local resident told Myanmar Now. 

The attacks targeted police battalions where soldiers were stationed near Nam Maw village in the Seik Muu village tract.

“There are Myanmar police battalions around Nam Maw,” a resident said. At least three bases were attacked, he added. 

A 41-year-old civilian in Seik Muu village injured his left hand during the clash, the Kachin-based Myitkyina News Journal reported.

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Some 200 people fled the Injangyang villages of Gway Htaung and Tan Baung Yan on Monday after the KIA launched an offensive against the military there. 

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Four young men were killed and five people were injured in the town of Kalay in Sagaing region on Wednesday as protesters continued their fight to topple the regime despite daily massacres across the country aimed at terrorizing them into submission. 

The Tahan Protest Group gathered in the town at around 10am and police and soldiers began shooting. One young man was shot dead on the spot as he tried to help people who were trapped amid gunfire, residents told Myanmar Now.   

The regime’s forces also shot at and chased fleeing protesters along roads and through narrow alleys, a resident said.

“The crowd of protesters dispersed but one person was shot dead while trying to rescue those trapped in the protest site,” the resident added. 

As the crowd dispersed, a man riding a motorcycle was shot outside a branch of KBZ Bank. “He also died,” the resident said. 

Despite the murders, protesters gathered again in the afternoon around 4pm. Police and soldiers started shooting again and killed two people. 

“They were shot dead while trying to set up barricades at the protest site. They were shot while trying to obstruct the army’s way as the army troops chased and shot the trapped protestors,” the resident said. 

The two who were killed in the morning were identified as Salai Kyong Lian Kye O, who was 25, and Kyin Khant Man, who was 27 and had three children. The identities of the other two have not yet been confirmed.

Five people were also injured and then taken away. Locals said they did not know where they had been taken.   

 

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