Myanmar’s junta chief has fired one of his favourite minions for alleged corruption following a series of investigations in recent weeks that have shaken not only the military but also the country’s business sector.
Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, a member of the military council that seized power two and a half years ago, was replaced by Gen Mya Tun Oo as chair of a number of key economic supervisory bodies, according to statements released by the junta over the past two days.
Until recently, the 55-year-old headed the regime’s Foreign Investment Commission, Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee, and Central Committee on Ensuring Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods. His replacement, Mya Tun Oo, is the minister for transport and communications as well as one of the junta’s five deputy prime ministers.
Moe Myint Tun has been under investigation since early September following the arrest of scores of businesspeople who allegedly bribed him and his subordinate, Brig-Gen Yan Naung Soe, who was a joint secretary of the Central Committee on Ensuring Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods. The committee is chiefly responsible for procuring US dollars for export and import licensing purposes and various other commercial transactions.
Sources with knowledge of the investigations, including those close to the detained military officials and businessmen, told Myanmar Now that the traders revealed their dealings with Moe Myint Tun while they were being questioned.
Another junta official exposed during the probe was deputy commerce minister Nyunt Aung, the sources said. Nyunt Aung was previously fired from his position as director general of the commerce ministry’s department of trade along with other officials in 2016 for failing to investigate the illegal import of heavy machines to jade mines in Hpakant.
Moe Myint Tun, along with Yan Naung Soe and Nyunt Aung, have allegedly made millions of dollars from their dealings with traders working in the fuel and cooking oil industries. The governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) confirmed to the regime’s investigators that Moe Myint Tun and his two associates also made millions by taking advantage of the huge disparity between the official exchange rate set by the CBM—just over 2,000 kyat per dollar—and the market rate amid a steep decline in the value of the kyat, according to a source.
‘Keep digging’
The regime’s investigators included personnel from the Military Security Affairs (MSA), headed by Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, and the Bureau of Special Investigation, overseen by home affairs minister Lt-Gen Yar Pyae.
“They didn’t arrest him while everything was in a state of upheaval. Yan Naung Soe was taken first by [the MSA officers] and then they reported to Min Aung Hlaing that the corruption cases pointed to Moe Myint Tun and asked him what to do,” said the source.
“[Min Aung Hlaing] told them to keep digging until they uncover everything. I heard that they will make a ruling soon and seize his assets.”
According to a retired army official with close ties to current military officers, Yu Lwin, the chief executive officer of the military-owned Myawaddy Bank, is also being questioned in connection with Moe Myint Tun’s case, and as a result, the bank’s operations have been partially suspended.
Another source told Myanmar Now that Moe Myint Tun was last seen on Tuesday outside Min Aung Hlaing’s office in Naypyitaw along with Gen Maung Maung Aye, the military’s current Chief of General Staff. According to the source, Maung Maung Aye was allowed to enter the office, but Moe Myint Tun wasn’t.
Details of the meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Maung Maung Aye were not known, but it was confirmed that Moe Myint Tun was accompanied by an officer from the Special Operations Task Force, an elite special force trained for urban warfare and security of VIP personnel.
Maung Maung Aye, who oversaw the probe into Moe Myint Tun’s alleged corruption, reportedly has personal issues with Moe Myint Tun related to seniority and a dispute between their families, according to sources Myanmar Now spoke to.
‘Super general’
Moe Myint Tun is one of the youngest high-ranking generals in Myanmar’s armed forces. A former army chief of staff and head of the military’s Naypyitaw Regional Command, he is regarded as a protégé of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and known as a “super general” among businesspeople.
In addition to heading the junta’s key economic bodies, Moe Myint Tun is also on the board of directors of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a military conglomerate. Companies owned by his adult children were awarded a number of lucrative contracts in the wake of the coup in February 2021. Last year, Myanmar Now reported that three companies linked to Moe Myint Tun’s family—Yadanar Moe Htet Aung, Phyo Pyae Pyae, and Pin Gangaw—had been granted several tenders by the junta’s border affairs ministry and prison department.
There has also been some speculation that Myanmar Navy chief Adm Moe Aung, who is close to Moe Myint Tun, was also among those being investigated. However, Myanmar Now was unable to determine whether this was the case or not.
Other senior military officials have also been caught up in corruption-related controversies in recent months. Lt-Gen Soe Htut, the junta’s minister of the Union Government Office, has reportedly been placed on “medical leave” due to allegations that he profited from his position during his previous tenure as home affairs minister. He has not been seen since he attended a ceremony for the inauguration of the Maravijaya Giant Buddha in Naypyitaw in early August.
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As minister for home affairs, Soe Htut also personally supervised the execution of pro-democracy activists Ko Jimmy, Phyo Zayar Thaw, Hla Myo Aung, and Aung Thura Zaw in July of last year. A staunch loyalist of Min Aung Hlaing, he replaced Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe, who was seen by the military as being too close to now-ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, as home affairs minister in 2020.
Soe Htut is also one of the largest shareholders of the MEHL, which holds more jade-mining licenses than any other company in Myanmar. In 2020, after a major landslide in Hpakant killed more than 170 people, he was appointed to a committee charged with identifying responsible parties and finding out what reforms might prevent similar incidents in the future. His appointment was heavily criticized by rights groups due to his interest in the jade industry through MEHL.
Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, the Myanmar junta’s spokesperson, was not available for comment regarding the current corruption investigations.
