Following the military’s arrest of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) staff in Naypyitaw on July 6 after a leaked letter revealed a scheme to circumvent sanctions, at least three of the detainees remain in custody, according to Myanmar Now’s sources.
The military’s raid occurred at the MOGE office building in Myanmar’s administrative capital, known locally at Office No. 44 and operating under the authority of the junta-controlled ministry of energy.
The detainees included deputy director Aung Soe Min, the deputy director of MOGE’s planning department Kyaw Kyaw Aung, the deputy director of the finance department Nu Nu Yi and at least 20 additional deputy directors, supervisors, vice supervisors, and other officials.
Several deputy directors and other staff members were released last Friday, but at least three remain in custody since the raid.
The detainees who have not been released are supervisor Aye Aye San and two male officials including a retired army major now working as a director at the state-owned company, according to the sources. They are the same staff members known to have been involved in opening new, secret bank accounts with the aim of accessing frozen, dollar-denominated assets.
Information about where the military is holding them and further details on the detained individuals are still unconfirmed, and the military council has not released a statement regarding the matter.
A government official who has knowledge of the arrests claimed on Saturday that most of the arrested MOGE personnel had already been released.
“Many were released yesterday, but it wasn’t all of them. A director, an administrator and a supervisor are still in detention,” he said.
According to a source with connections to one of the arrested MOGE staff members, more than 40 MOGE personnel were taken in for questioning. He said there was reason to be concerned for the safety of the unreleased staff members.
“I heard that they are still keeping them because they are directly connected to the matters with the bank account. The military informed the families of these individuals to send them five changes of clothing. The families are all worried because they’re still being held after everyone else was let go,” he said.
“Even the ones that were already released were left traumatised and afraid, and aren’t back to normal yet,” he added.
Based on the information in a leaked letter, Myanmar Now reported earlier this month that the junta’s energy ministry had requested that a secret, bogus bank account be opened under the beneficiary name of “Kant Kaw”—a kind of Burmese flower—at the Myanma Economic Bank in order to give the junta access to more than US$500m in oil and gas revenues being held abroad.
The funds had been frozen after the European Union imposed sanctions on MOGE—one of the military regime’s largest sources of revenue from abroad—in February 2022 in order to hold Myanmar’s military regime accountable for human rights violations.
