Impeached Kayah state chief minister spent public money on wedding gift for NLD grandee’s daughter

L Phaung Sho says ‘my conscience is clean’ as NLD argues he was the victim of a ‘personal grudge’

Sandar Nyan

Published on Sep 4, 2020

Naing Lin Aung

Published on Sep 4, 2020

L Phaung Sho, seen hours before his removal from office as Kayah state chief minister (Kay Zon Nway/Myanmar Now)

Kayah state’s recently ousted chief minister spent public money on wedding gifts for the daughter of National League for Democracy party grandee Win Htein, a report into his spending has found.

L Phaung Sho was impeached on Tuesday after the Kayah regional parliament found that he had used 37.7m kyat of public money for personal gain, and another 1.3m kyat for NLD party affairs.

He spent 200,000 on a wedding gift for Chit Su Win Htein and another 50,000 kyat on a wedding gift for the son of a man named Tun Kyaw, said the report, which was written by the regional auditor general.

He also spent 335,000 kyat on a dinner and gifts for Win Htein and others in 2016 and about 3.2m kyat on funerals, though the report did not say whose funerals.

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Five regional Hluttaw members reported him to the speaker of Kayah’s parliament, sparking a two-week investigation into his financial affairs last month.

L Phaung Sho told Myanmar Now it was untrue that he had abused public funds.

“My conscience is clean and I believe I can solve any problems that will arise from this,” he said.

Asked about the gift he bought for Win Htein’s daughter, Chit Su Win Htein, he said: “This has nothing to do with you. How am I supposed to know all this?”

He added: “The time of my incumbency and the wedding, what does that have to do with anything? Did you see it happen? If you didn’t see it with your own eyes and just base it off of hearsay, how will the truth come out?”

Monywa Aung Shin, secretary of the NLD’s information committee, said L Phaung Sho had been transparent about spending related to the party.

“In the case of the 10 lakhs spent on an NLD meeting, it was listed and reported honestly,” he said. “He presented the spending with transparency whether for political party matters or whatever else. He didn’t leave any information out.”

The NLD has said the Kayah state parliament speaker’s impeachment of L Phaung Sho was based on a ”personal grudge” because his candidacy to run for the party in this year’s election was rejected.

“The Speaker of the Kayah parliament acted on a personal grudge, ignoring the law,” the party said in a statement on Thursday.

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Pages from a report into L Phaung Sho’s spending by the Kayah State Auditor General’s Office (Myanmar Now)

Kayah State Democratic Party representative Khu Theh Reh, one of the five lawmakers who complained against L Phaung Sho, said he reported him twice to the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2018, but the commission said they would not investigate.

“If there’s no explanation about this spending and people think they can just set up their own personal account, the next elected government would have the right to do the same,” Theh Reh said.

Chief Minister L Phaung Sho

Sandar Nyan

Sandar Nyan is Reporter with Myanmar Now

Naing Lin Aung

Naing Lin Aung is Reporter with Myanmar Now.

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More than 100 junta border police and their family members test positive for Covid-19 in Rakhine State

Many of the border guard police sent by the junta from Yangon to Maungdaw and Buthidaung are testing positive for the virus

Myanmar Now

Published on Jul 6, 2021

A border guard police is seen in Buthidaung, northern Rakhine State (Photo: EPA)

More than 100 members of the military’s border guard police and their families in northern Rakhine State have recently tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days, with one sergeant dying from the virus.

The deceased man was from a border guard post in Ywetnyotaung village, in northern Maungdaw Township.

His body was brought to Maungdaw District General Hospital on July 3, according to Dr. Nu Kay Thi Zan, head of the hospital.

“Two people died in Maungdaw. The border guard sergeant arrived dead at the hospital. He was diagnosed with the virus in a post-mortem examination,” the doctor said.

On the same day, a 60-year-old man from Maungdaw town’s second quarter was hospitalised with the virus and also died.

Some 105 border guard police and their family members have recently tested positive for the coronavirus in Maungdaw and 50 in Buthidaung.

On June 28, 91 police and their family members tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Maungdaw. It is believed that they may have contracted the virus while travelling together on a ferry.

They have been quarantined, according to the chief of the Maungdaw District General Hospital.

Around 20 people, including 14 border guard police and members of their families, later tested positive on July 3.

Those infected in Maungdaw include education staff, bank employees, immigration staff, and customs staff.

In Buthidaung, around 50 police and their families who relocated from elsewhere in Myanmar recently tested positive, according to chief of the Buthidaung General Hospital Dr. Saw Min Thein.

Most were tested on July 1, after two police relocating to Buthidaung from Yangon tested positive for the virus on June 29. It was determined that 48 more reportedly were infected.

“There are no local transmissions in Buthidaung so far. The 50 people who tested positive are border guard police and family members who were transferred from Yangon,” he said.

Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships have the highest rates of Covid-19 infection in Rakhine State. In Maungdaw alone, at the time of reporting, there were 179 positive cases, 170 of whom were receiving medical treatment.

Restaurants in Maungdaw have closed except for takeaway orders starting on Saturday, with border trade reportedly closing soon, according to the military council in Rakhine State.

Throughout the pandemic, banks, schools and border gates previously remained open in the township, which borders Bangladesh.

“Many people who came from the mainland to work here tested positive for COVID-19 in the beginning of the third wave of the pandemic, and that shows that COVID-19 prevention, testing processes and quarantine processes are not yet effective,” a July 5 letter issued by the Arakan Army (AA), which is active in Rakhine State, stated.

The letter called on people to adhere to the AA’s health directives.

A total of 229 people had tested positive for the virus in Maungdaw District by Sunday since May; two people in Maungdaw and one person in Sittwe have died from Covid-19 during the same period.

Myanmar has reported 165,405 cases of Covid-19 and 3,419 deaths since the virus was first detected in the country in late March last year, according to the junta-controlled health ministry.

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Kawlin PDF carries out lethal ambush of military convoy

At least 20 junta troops and two PDF soldiers are believed to have been killed in the attack in Kawlin, Sagaing Region

Myanmar Now

Published on Jul 6, 2021

KIA soldiers are pictured in Laiza, the organisation’s headquarters (Photo: EPA)

An estimated 20 military personnel and at least two members of the local People’s Defence Force (PDF) were killed in a clash in Kawlin Township, Sagaing Region on Monday evening, according to local sources.

The fighting broke out along the Kawlin-Shwebo Rd near Kokkogone village.

“I heard that three military vehicles were intercepted and attacked by the PDF. Four members of our Kawlin PDF were reportedly killed—we can confirm the deaths of at least two. We heard that around 20 members of the junta’s forces were killed. It is an estimation,” a Kawlin resident told Myanmar Now.

He added that the two deceased PDF members were from Kawlin town.

Former Lower House parliamentarian Myo Zaw Aung of Kawlin wrote on his Facebook page that more than 30 junta troops were killed in Monday’s clashes.

Myanmar Now was not able to independently verify the death toll.

The MP also wrote that three members of the Kawlin PDF were killed, and paid tribute to them in his post.

“I feel very sad that the young people whom I could count on as my own brothers have died. We will work firmly until the revolution is successful,” he wrote.

The PDF attacked the military trucks on the Kawlin-Shwebo Rd, which were carrying reinforcement troops for the junta’s armed forces, which suffered heavy casualties in fighting near Thitsaingone village in Kawlin on Friday, according to locals.

On the same day, gunfire erupted also in Kawlin town. Two women were injured when artillery shells fired by the junta’s forces hit a house in the town, according to photos shared by residents on social media.

The Kawlin PDF issued a warning urging residents not to take to the streets that day, instead asking them to stay indoors. They have not released any information related to fighting over the weekend.

According to locals, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were fighting alongside the Kawlin PDF in the Friday attack against the military.

In Katha and Htigyaing townships—also in Sagaing—the PDF and KIA recently cooperated in fighting against the junta’s forces, according to PDF chapters in the townships.

KIA information officer Col Naw Bu said that though the organisation’s headquarters had not instructed the Kachin troops to cooperate with the local PDFs, some KIA soldiers may have chosen to do so.

As Katha and Htigyaing are located near Sagaing Region’s border with Kachin State, near areas where the KIA is active.

Myanmar Now tried to call the junta’s information team for comment on the situation in Kawlin, but was unable to make contact.

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Displaced Depayin residents afraid to return home despite military retreat

Days earlier, the military carried out an assault on a Depayin village that a local PDF member described as ‘not a battle, but a slaughter’

Myanmar Now

Published on Jul 6, 2021

Depayin locals seen protesting the military council in April

Most of the residents displaced from Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township have been unable to return to their homes despite a retreat on Monday by the junta’s armed forces, saying that the area continues to be too dangerous.

Before leaving the township, the troops carried out an intensive ground search for members of the Depayin People’s Defence Force (PDF) from Friday until Sunday in a 20-mile radius around Satpyarkyin village. The search came after soldiers entered the village on Friday, and were met with shots fired by the local resistance.

With the military deploying heavy weaponry and surveying surrounding forests looking for the PDF fighters, residents of 20 villages fled their homes. The most recently internally displaced persons (IDPs) include locals from Kyun Daw Gyi, Kyun Daw Lay, Ohn Ne Kyin, Ohn Tin, Chone Ywar and Bote Htan villages.

“We just couldn’t live here anymore since they even combed through the forests. We all had to leave our homes and wards to run to somewhere safer,” a Satpyarkyin resident said.

The IDPs said that they were facing hardships including insufficient shelter, food and healthcare access.

A woman in her 50s from Bote Htan village died on Sunday night, two days after being bitten by a snake which was believed to be poisonous while on the run from the military, another IDP said.

“We actually had planned on taking her body back to the village this morning but since the military was still combing through the village and there was no one to help us carry the body, we couldn’t,” a Bote Htan resident said on Monday.

PDF troops were forced to retreat from the battle near Satpyarkyin village on Friday morning due to the imbalance of weapons—they were armed only with handmade rifles.

Another battle broke out that afternoon, after the military occupied a monastery in the village of Kyun Kalay. The junta’s troops reportedly shot heavy arms, injuring several PDF members.

Eyewitnesses told Myanmar Now that the soldiers shot and killed injured persons who were attempting to flee the battle site.

“I had to leave my two injured comrades behind. I told one of them to stay put in a safe place and that I would come back for him, but he was shot in the head shortly after,” said a PDF member who fought in the battle.

Six of the bodies collected from around the Kyun Kalay village monastery appeared to have been killed by bullets shot at close range, according to the Depayin PDF.

One PDF member described it as “not a battle, but slaughter.”

The Depayin PDF said on Monday evening that the fighting in Satpyarkyin killed 26 of their members and injured more than 50.

Most of those killed were young people, including two fourth-year university students and three Grade 11 high school students, locals said.

The coup council released a statement on Sunday on the clash in Satpyarkyin, claiming the military was ambushed and that the battle that ensued had lasted 30 minutes, with no casualties on their side.

A Depayin PDF member told Myanmar Now that the battle was a setback for the local resistance force, but that they would regroup and continue to fight, but were in need of better support from the anti-coup National Unity Government (NUG), as well as more sophisticated arms.

“Those military dogs are even worse than the English or the Japanese back then,” the PDF member said, referring to the forces who fought in Myanmar in World War II. “For that reason alone, it should be clear that those of us on the frontlines can only hang on for so long without the support of the higher-ups. That’s why I would like to request that the NUG get us out of this vile system as quickly as possible.”

After two junta police were killed in Depayin Township on March 18, the military deployed troops to the villages of Thabyay Kone and Ti Taw, causing those residents, and those in the nearby villages of Oak Sel, Thayat Kan and Chaung Nee Toh to flee.

The military later accused the Yin Kye monastery, 10 miles south of Depayin, of providing training to local resistance fighters and raided the village on June 8, leading to a battle.

Five days later, two daughters of a local junta-allied administrator were killed in the village of Kyi, just two miles from Satpyarkyin, leading to military attacks on two area villages.

The shootout resulted in the death of 21-year-old Aung San of Bote village, who was shot in the chest, and 22-year-old Theik Htwe, who sustained severe injuries to his spine and pubic region.