Four police officers in Mandalay have been arrested in two separate cases for demanding bribes from suspects in exchange for allowing them out on bail, the anti-corruption commission has said.
A police station chief and a sub-lieutenant are accused of taking a total of 2.65 million kyats from two suspects who they allegedly beat while demanding the bribes, officials said on Friday.
Lieutenant Kyaw Thu and sub-lieutenant Kyaw Naing Oo face up to ten years in prison under article 56 of the anti-corruption law.
The Anti-Corruption Commission began an investigation after two men “complained to us that they were arrested unlawfully, beaten and asked for money,” said Kyaw Soe, the commission’s director.
It is unclear if the officers will face any charges for the allegations that they beat the suspects.
One of the suspects was asked to pay 150,000 kyats after being arrested for “cheating and dishonesty” under section 420 of the penal code, while the other suspect was asked for 2.5 million kyat after being arrested under Myanmar’s notorious anti-defamation clause, section 66d.
Lieutenant Kyaw Thu was also implicated in another case with two other officers, the commission said. Major Thein Naing and sub-lieutenant Tun Tun Lin allegedly colluded with him to extract a 1 million kyat bribe from someone they arrested for gambling.
