Myanmar regime dismisses home minister for corruption

Myanmar’s junta has dismissed its home affairs minister, Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung, under corruption charges, despite the regime’s previous claims that he had merely been reshuffled back to a military post, according to sources close to senior military officials. The dismissal followed a complaint lodged by the Chinese government over Myanmar-based online scam operations, which prompted an internal investigation by the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs, the sources said. That probe uncovered evidence of bribery, leading the Office of the Commander-in-Chief to issue a disciplinary order in recent days condemning Tun Tun Naung and removing him from office. The order stripped him of his position without pension benefits, a senior source told Myanmar Now. “He will not receive a pension. In some cases, such orders result only in dismissal, while in others they lead to prison sentences,” the source said. “Given that he was the home affairs minister, the sums involved would traditionally be very large.” In recent months, hundreds of Chinese nationals linked to online scam syndicates operating in Myanmar—particularly in border regions—have been repatriated to China. Despite the scale and longevity of these operations, neither Beijing nor Myanmar’s military authorities have publicly identified which senior officials allegedly accepted bribes to allow the networks to operate largely unhindered for years. Tun Tun Naung, 63, was removed from his post in late January and replaced by Lt-Gen Phone Myat, according to a January 27 junta statement that framed the move as a routine personnel change. Phone Myat headed the Bureau of Special Operations 5—a powerful post that primarily oversees Yangon—before taking over as the new home affairs minister. Widely regarded as one of the generals trusted by junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, Tun Tun Naung previously served as minister of border affairs and held senior command positions across three regional military commands. He also led the military’s Bureau of Special Operations 1. A graduate of the 25th intake of the Defence Services Academy, he was transferred to the military reserve in late 2020 before joining a military-led peace committee. Following the 2021 coup, he returned to government as border affairs minister and was promoted to home affairs minister in early 2025—only to be dismissed about a year later. Orders issued by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief typically do not specify criminal penalties. However, if imprisonment is imposed, sentences are usually handed down by military courts under the Defence Services Act, sources said. Tun Tun Naung comes from a prominent military family. His father, Col Khin Maung Win, previously served as deputy regional commander of Yangon Region. Senior military officers and their families are widely known to be involved in large-scale business interests, and in recent years several top generals have been jailed on corruption charges. In 2023, another former home affairs minister, Lt-Gen Soe Htut, was also removed from office and prosecuted over corruption and abuse-of-power allegations.

Myanmar regime dismisses home minister for corruption

The junta claims he was “reshuffled,” but senior military sources say he was sacked for ties to online scam networks

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