Police officials say Kyaw Myint, the former chair of the recently dissolved United Democratic Party (UDP), is facing additional charges under the Immigration Act and the Financial Institutions Law.
Kyaw Myint will be charged under article 171 of the Financial Institutions Law and is currently being investigated, said Police Col Kyaw Thiha, a spokesperson for the Myanmar Police Force.
The former UDP chair was sentenced on November 12 by the Chan Aye Tharzan court in Mandalay for absconding from prison 21 years ago. Earlier this month, he was moved to Insein prison in Yangon to face immigration charges.
The Bureau of Special Investigations is acting as the plaintiff in the case against him under the Financial Institution Laws at the Hlaing township police station, where investigations are underway.
“The Bureau of Special Investigations is running the investigations,” Hlaing township police chief Nyan Htun told Myanmar Now. “We just accepted the case. They opened it back in November.”
According to the Financial Institutions Law, anyone found guilty of operating a financial institution without authorization from the Central Bank is subject to up to five years in prison and a fine of 500m kyat ($368,000).
A national-level investigative body looking into Kyaw Myint’s finances initially found that that he was in possession of
23bn kyat in assets, including 16bn kyat transferred from China. It later found an additional 29bn kyat ($22.5m), including 11bn kyat from China, the President’s Office announced in October.
At the time, President’s Office spokesperson Zaw Htay said Kyaw Myint would likely be hit with the Anti-Money Laundering Law because he could not identify the source of some of the money. Further charges could also be laid under the Political Parties Registration Law, he added.
Now that he is in Insein prison, Kyaw Myint can also be charged under the Immigration Act in Hlaing Tharyar township, where he used to reside. “We’ve asked a legal advisor. When we get the response, we’ll open a case,” said the township’s eastern police chief, Win Bo Oo.
Kyaw Myint was initially charged under the Immigration Act at the Chan Aye Tharzan township court, but the case was dismissed because the court was not in his township of residence.
The former UDP chair has already been charged with immigration and money-laundering offenses in Hlaing Tharyar and Hlaing townships, but it remains unknown when a lawsuit will be filed.
Kyaw Myint was arrested at his home at the Pan Hlaing housing estate on September 29 after it was learned that he had escaped from Mandalay’s Obo prison two decades earlier.
He was later sentenced to two years in prison for absconding before completing a nine-year sentence he had received in 1998. He was also ordered to serve the remainder of his original sentence.
Kyaw Myint, who is also known as Michael Kyaw Myint Hua Hu, was originally imprisoned for violating business laws in relation to the Myanmar Kyone Yeom Company, which he owned.
The company was later accused of helping to launder drug money for the United Wa State Army. Kyaw Myint escaped from prison and fled to the US and then Canada.
He returned to Myanmar in 2013 with the apparent blessing of the authorities and was able to live freely and run the UDP, as well as several businesses, despite his status as a fugitive.
Although the UDP planned to contest in the 2020 election with over 1,000 candidates, the party was dissolved after the arrest of its chair.
