‘This doesn’t end here’ vows NLD chief minister after impeachment for corruption

L Phaung Sho is the second NLD chief minister to be toppled by graft allegations

Published on Sep 2, 2020

Kayah state chief minister L Phaung Sho seen shortly before his impeachment on September 1 (Photo: Kay Zon Nwe/Myanmar Now)

The National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in 2016 promising to root out the scourge of corruption in public life in Myanmar.

But as its first term draws to a close, two of its chief ministers have been toppled for skimming public funds. For some, that is evidence the party is indeed being tough on graft and is going after senior offenders.

But it is also feeding a perception that the NLD is part of the problem, not the solution.

More than three quarters of lawmakers in Kayah state’s parliament voted on Tuesday to impeach L Phaung Sho, who deposited hundreds of millions of kyat of public money into his private account - before spending a large chunk of it on himself.

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It follows the jailing in May of Lei Lei Maw, the former NLD chief minister for Tanintharyi. She received a 30-year sentence for, among other things, selling her house for well above market value to a company that she awarded several lucrative public contracts in return.

Sixteen of the Kayah state legislature’s 20 MPs voted in a secret ballot to impeach L Phaung Sho following a two-week probe into his handling of public funds.

The constitution requires at least two thirds of MPs to vote in favour of impeaching a chief minister.

L Phaung Sho was defiant after Tuesday’s vote. “I want to say the case does not end here. The truth will be revealed in the end,” he told journalists.

His actions were in line with financial policies under the authorisation of the state government, he added.

And he said it was improper that the five-member investigation team included the same MPs who had made the complaint against him.

“The public may perceive the plaintiffs have acted as judges if the complainants are also the investigators,” he said.

The resolution to impeach must now be submitted to president Win Myint for approval, a formality required by the constitution.

Theh Reh, the MP who led the investigation, said his team has done its duty. “The president will decide on further action,” he said.

It is unclear if L Phaung Sho will now face criminal charges. In 2018 the Anti-Corruption Commission failed to act on a complaint about him regarding his use of funds from leasing heavy machines, said Theh Reh.

He said the commission did not pursue the case for various reasons, though he did not elaborate.

The parliamentary investigation found that the chief minister repeatedly failed to follow a motion agreed by MPs to keep a three-acre plot of land public and not lease it to private companies.

He gave approval for restaurants, sport centers, water factories and bungalows to lease the land, the team said.

He also stole 37.7m kyat ($28k) from funds made on the lease of 18 government-owned machines, the team found. Only a fraction of the money made it into a government account and he deposited most of it, 495m kyat, into his personal account, it added.

The team said it summoned L Phaung Sho four times to defend himself, but he never appeared in person, instead sending a representative to object to the investigation.

And he improperly used more than 1.3m kyat of public money for NLD party affairs, the team’s report said.

Monywa Aung Shin, secretary of the NLD’s information committee, said he was unaware of that money being spent on the party.

L Phaung Sho leased land used for the annual Kayah State Day celebrations to three companies: Nan Aye Yate, Taw Win Thazin Myint and Shan Htoo Aung.

Chief Minister L Phaung Sho

Sandar Nyan

Sandar Nyan 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.