CM – Secularly, charmingly and secretly equip a brutal military

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>> Hannah Beech, The New York Times

Published: Dec 25, 2021 3:38 am BdST

Updated: Dec 25, 2021 03:38 BdST

Myanmar’s General Min Aung Hlaing takes part in a parade for the 72nd Armed Forces Day in the capital, Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2017. Reuters

A man who was shot dead during the security forces raid on anti-coup protesters shows a three-finger salute as he is helped in Thingangyun, Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021

Soldiers stand next to military vehicles as people gather to protest the military coup on February 15, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. Reuters

Ten Rohingya Muslim men with their hands tied kneel on September 1, 2017 in the village of Inn Din. Reuters

Amid regular power outages in the rest of
Yangon, Myanmar, the Kyaw Thaungs danced and drank champagne among the newcomers
Elite, including young entrepreneurs who have returned from exile, jeweled daughters
of generals and even former political prisoners suddenly responsible for
Attracting foreign investment in the newest frontier market.

When Myanmar’s military dictators ended
For decades of isolationism, the Kyaw Thaungs seemed to embody the perfect mix:
August family with a long history of charitable commitment
the kind of business reforms needed to bring a corrupt, closed country into the
global economy. But the main source of family wealth, vaguely claimed
of real estate and import-export firms, has been hidden behind a facade.

For all your efforts to differentiate
away from the drug lords and business buddies who dominated Myanmar,
Economy, the Kyaw Thaungs quietly prepared one of the most brutal
Military. Your partnership with the Tatmadaw as is the Myanmar military
known deepened when his generals opposed ethnic cleansing
Rohingya Muslims. And it continued that year when the army staged a coup
and seized full power of the country, killing more than 1,300 civilians so far,
in the estimation of a surveillance group.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung, the scion, was the
public face of the family. When chasing Tatmadaw contracts, he nibbled along
the family of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief who is orchestrating
the coup. He met with the Commander of the Myanmar Air Force on Paris Air. 2015
Show where the military leader checked ended Pakistani fighter jets
in the Tatmadaw arsenal. A family company owned by Kyaw Thaung offers to support the supply
the military with spare parts for Russian attack helicopters, the
used to bombard civilians resistant to the coup.

Even the renovation of the Pegu Club
depended on a deal that would require the Kyaw Thaungs to pay at least $ 510,000 a year
Year to a military conglomerate showing agreement for the club.

An investigation by the Kyaw Thaung
Family from The New York Times – based on interviews with dozen of former
Company employees, business partners, military insiders and family members,
as well as thousands of pages of company records, contracts, tenders and
other financial documents – exposes a vast network of military procurement that
strategically hidden from the public. The family best known for their charity
Foundation, benefited from the close ties with the Tatmadaw and helped the
Military avoid control by Western governments.

At cocktail parties and business forums,
the family talked about international business standards, such as: B. rigorous
Governance, corporate social responsibility and open tenders. Closed behind
Doors, the Kyaw Thaungs, charismatic, western educated and English speaking,
relied on the kind of insider deals with the Tatmadaw that has enriched
a whole class of cronies in one of the poorest and most repressive Asia
Nations.

Ultimately is the story of the kyaw
Thaungs is similar to that of Myanmar: a country with enormous potential, which a. is foiled
ruthless military and the families willing to compromise in pursuit
of his wealth.

The Kyaw Thaungs took advantage of theirs
Family ties to lucrative contracts to supply the military with European
Airplanes and a French coastal surveillance system. You are bidding for a deal
deliver Italian weapons to the Navy, according to a former employee of the company and a
Email about the offer. A relative, a former general who served as both
Minister of Energy and Chairman of the National Investment Commission, officially
Approved Deals Kyaw Thaung Companies Have With Military Affiliates
or in the military itself.

To disguise the true writing of theirs
Wealth, they set up a tangle of businesses in jurisdictions run by the
British Virgin Islands to Singapore. Some of them opened and closed with a
single deal and they were dependent on ownership structures, sometimes the
Involving family members.

Part of the family’s military
Procurement was developed to circumvent western export controls in order to avoid the
Tatmadaw on reinforcing his command under international sanctions
Experts and five former employees of the company. The coastal radar technology, for
could for example have violated such rules; it was operational as a Rohingya
Muslims tried to escape a military massacre, the United Nations investigators
say it could represent genocide.

One of the family businesses has donated
more than $ 40,000 to the Tatmadaw for what the United Nations called
Covering up the site of ethnic cleansing. A 2019 UN report on the military
The persecution of the Rohingya highlighted this post.

A man who was shot dead during the security forces raid on anti-coup protesters shows a three-finger salute as he is helped in Thingangyun, Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung, 39, said in a
later interview that he was not close to his father Moe Kyaw Thaung, and that
he wasn’t sure what business his father was up to. He said
it wasn’t right to refer to a family business because of the separation
Businesses that he and his father ran. (He was the director of one of his fathers
Company and is currently director of another.)

“I came because of my love for my country
back, ”he said. “I didn’t work on Wall Street. I wasn’t going
Angeles and started a music business like many of my friends. I came home. I
did not come home to earn money, but to continue the family. ”

The picture, the Jonathan Kyaw Thaung
was presented to the world, that corresponded to the heir of one of the great lineages of Myanmar
of a charming graduate from Millfield, a British boarding school also run by
the Thai king. In 2017 he told a magazine from the Asian Institute of
Management how his grandfather was invited to Buckingham Palace and
gave business advice to his grandson. He was the last to see his
Grandfather Kyaw Thaung, before he died, said Jonathan Kyaw Thaung in the
Article.

He was just a toddler hardly needed
Business consulting when his grandfather died. There was no invitation to it
Buckingham Palace, according to four members of Kyaw Thaung’s family who spoke to
the times. Although the public biography of Jonathan Kyaw Thaung states that he graduated
from Babson College he admitted he never graduated there.

“I want to set the record. I
come from Myanmar’s oldest entrepreneurial family, ”he said. “My grandfather was
extremely successful. My father was very successful.

“I’ve always been someone who
achieved and was a champion and I never took short cuts, ”he added, describing
his talents in athletics, soccer and business.

The Kyaw Thaungs grew up as part of one
comfortable, well connected set that was protected when Myanmar’s generals were filming
the land inside.

The original family fortune came from
Jute, a natural fiber used to make ropes and cords. The jute mill was
nationalized during the military’s disastrous foray into socialism after his
first coup in 1962.

Burma, once praised for its good schools
and polyglot cosmopolitanism, sank into poverty. The ruling junta named them
Country of Myanmar.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung’s father was sent
to Northern Ireland, where he escaped the hardships of Myanmar. His siblings scattered
to Thailand, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. The family is graceful
Villa in Yangon rotted away, like the rest of the country.

But even if many of them went abroad,
the family remained connected to Myanmar and traveled there for business.
Your way back was made easier by the expanded family tree that included
senior Tatmadaw officers, cabinet ministers and confidants of the junta
Chiefs.

A cousin married Zeyar Aung, an urban
English-speaking general who led Northern Command and the 88th Light
Infantry division, both bound by the United Nations in a decades-long war
Crimes against Myanmar’s own people. He was later Minister of Railways, back then
the energy minister and then headed the national investment commission,
Over time, the Kyaw Thaungs vied for military contracts.

Myanmar’s patronage networks are one
Tangled roots that bind family trees. The children of generals usually marry within
close circles, perhaps to other military descendants or the descendants of business
Buddy.

When the Tatmadaw began to loosen control
over the economy and engage in a distress sale of assets that were once the
the fiefdom of the military, this elite class of well-connected people, plunged into profitability.
Jonathan Kyaw Thaung returned to Myanmar, along with siblings and cousins ​​who
grew up abroad as well.

It was a path that he took before
Father, one of the first businessmen to return to military-ruled Myanmar
after some time in Northern Ireland and Singapore. Even though he told others that
the family business relied on the import-export business, his father Moe Kyaw
Thaung, polished his Tatmadaw bonds by acting as a cross-cultural one
Middle man for the generals, seven business partners, military insiders and family
Members said. He bragged about studying abroad for the descendants of. having arranged
Senior General Than Shwe, the former head of the junta, said five of them
People. Moe Kyaw Thaung did not respond to requests for comments.

Despite the family’s lack of media presence
a few details have come out. In 2002 a Tatmadaw-run newspaper reported that Jonathan
Kyaw Thaung and his father donated 7 million kyat, a substantial sum of
back then during a military « handover » ceremony for the
Reconstruction of a Buddhist temple.

The family continues to have finances and others
Supporting the Tatmadaw even when their soldiers were accused of genocide
in 2017. This deadly campaign against the Rohingya accelerated as the military
began sharing power with a civilian government, which tainted the feel-good narrative
of a rare bloodless political transition.

The KT Group, Jonathan Kyaw Thaung’s
Conglomerate, donated money for the reconstruction of countries where the Muslims
Minority had lived before.

« Officials of these companies should
with a view to criminal prosecution for substantial and
direct contributions to the commission of crimes under international law,
including crimes against humanity, ”said Chris Sidoti, a UN. Investigator who
worked on the 2019 report.

In September 2017, with the violence
against the Rohingya, who raise international alarm, Ky-Tha, Moe Kyaw Thaung’s
Group of companies, arranged a meeting between a representative of Safran, a
Parisian aerospace and defense manufacturer and top Myanmar officers
Air Force, according to a leaked document from Justice For Myanmar, a
Watchdog group investigating Tatmadaw business relationships. Focus on the meeting
on Tatmadaw helicopters, including the Russian-made MI-17, a deployed attack helicopter
against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.

Safran declined to comment. it is
unclear whether the talks resulted in a servicing deal. Jonathan Kyaw Thaung
said he had never heard of saffron.

Soldiers stand next to military vehicles as people gather in Yangon, Myanmar, to protest the military coup on February 15, 2021. Reuters

His support made it possible for Jonathan Kyaw Thaung
Landing meetings with military figures, said four former employees. He borrowed his
Influence and money passed on to Jonathan Kyaw Thaung and helped him build an oil and gas company
Companies that bid for a telecommunications license and disguise the purchase of aircraft for that
Tatmadaw.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung soon made contacts
with General Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief, and his children, according to 11
former employees, relatives, business partners and military insiders. Kyaw
Members of the Thaung family accompanied Min Aung Hlaing and other generals to one
Regional Defense Summit and Air Show in Malaysia, two people who attended
on the trip said.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung said that his
Relationships with members of Min Aung Hlaing’s family have deteriorated. He said he
had cultivated connections with the military chief himself. He described Aung Ko Win
as a mentor and corporate visionary.

Six years ago, Jonathan Kyaw Thaung
asked a foreign employee for Aung Ko. Arrange a bespoke tour of London
Win who is a fan of James Bond. Receipts and correspondence checked by the
Times detailed the stops of the tour, which includes a private boat ride on the
Thames, with the sound system that blows up « Skyfall » from Adele, the KBZ boss
Favorite Bond theme song. At some point the wind blew Aung Ko Win’s hat away,
and the skipper picked it up, according to the foreign employee he spoke to
the Times on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

In Myanmar, Jonathan ordered Kyaw Thaung
the design of a glass pedestal adorned with a photo of Aung Ko Win on the
Thames. At the top of the sculpture was Aung Ko Win’s hat.

But the $ 2.16 million helicopter is on offer
in Brazil was not intended for commercial use as a treaty by Kyaw Thaung
specified. It ended with the tatmadaw, the real recipient, who was hiding behind it
forged papers.

At one point, Myanmar’s Department of
Civil Aviation wrote in a letter to the Brazilian authorities that the plane
would be used for « tourism and oil and gas industry ». The letter was based on
Handwritten annotated drafts provided by the KT Group, according to the
foreign agent and Times-verified copies.

A Tatmadaw officer was identified as a
Customer has separate internal records for the helicopter that was checked
from The Times.

A letter from MWG, a Kyaw Thaung
Air carrier, applying for visas for six Brazilian crew members to enter
Myanmar to deliver the helicopter was not directed to civil aviation
Authorities, but to the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Air Force. The letter,
which was also verified by the Times specified that MWG would surrender
Eurocopter to the Air Force.

If the foreign worker and the
Brazilian crew arrived in Myanmar, he said they were picked up on the tarmac at about
20 men in blue uniforms swarmed out of the helicopter and were amazed at his
Features. The agent said he confronted Jonathan Kyaw Thaung on his return
to Myanmar and expresses discomfort at the deception.

In March of this year via armed forces
On the 2nd day, Min Aung Hlaing led a large procession in the Myanmars
Weapons. A Eurocopter flew over the parade, one of several used by the
Myanmar’s official news media reported that maritime reconnaissance military personnel.
On the same day, more than 100 anti-coup demonstrators were killed by security forces
Forces, according to the monitoring group.

As a foreigner in the years before the coup
Investors flocked to Myanmar and Jonathan Kyaw Thaung introduced his family
as the ideal mediator, « one of the largest conglomerates of Myanmar »,
according to company literature. He boasted recognition from the world
Economic forum.

“Jonathan was founded within 3 years
Offices in Azerbaijan, India, China and Singapore for KT Group and expanded KT
Group business from retail focus to diversified conglomerate in the present
Day with his entrepreneurial spirit, his drive and his vision, ”said a company biography.

The nerve center of Kyaw Thaung
Business Empire is a nondescript office building in Yangon, Myanmar
biggest town. At least 11 of the family businesses are registered here, however
their existence is not marked by large name tags.

Their presence online is also thin.
There is a website for the family foundation, but the website of the KT Group has
been removed. The Ky-Tha Group website is « Coming Soon ».

The low profile was intended to
the family’s ties to the Tatmadaw are tarnishing, the four former say
Employees.

The KT Group developed the import
Europe by at least two turboprops and two transport aircraft entering the
Tatmadaw fleet. The shops were designed to look like commercial transfers
private companies, including their own and befriended aviation company Air KBZ, are more likely
than military procurement, the former employees said.

The process could help that
Possibility of the transactions triggering European export bans
the Tatmadaw. The embargoes are aimed at devices that are used for internal
Repression, a category broad enough to potentially include aircraft that are involved in
Transport soldiers or sanctioned military officers.

Even complicated company registrations
obscured the Kyaw Thaung’s ties to influential relatives and cronies. In
2014, Bashneft International, an energy company, partners with Sun Apex
Holdings, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Despite its overseas incorporation, Sun
Apex Holdings is owned by Kyaw Thaung, a Times review of its business
Records shows. Among the people listed in the registration papers are a
Advisor to the Kyaw Thaung and daughter of the KBZ founder.

Sun Apex had little experience with oil
and gas, but it was among select local companies approved by the Myanmar
Ministry of Energy to cooperate with foreign companies. The formal government
The Bashneft-Sun-Apex deal was approved by Zeyar Aung, the energy company
Pastor who is married to a cousin of Kyaw Thaung. (He didn’t occupy that
Cabinet position at the time of bidding.)

In 2015, the Singapore office became a Kyaw
The Thaung company has signed a contract to supply a coastal radar to the Tatmadaw
Technology system from Thales, the weapons manufacturer that is partly owned by the French
Government. The purchase agreement for the surveillance system, called Coast
Watcher 100 was part of the leaked documents from Justice For Myanmar.

The Coast Watcher 100, which is about a
long coastline, required 50 meter high towers with state-of-the-art fortifications
Radar. A British radar expert who worked on projects for Thales in. had worked
Afghanistan and Iraq were appointed to lead the project. A French former
Defense Attaché has been hired as General Manager for International Business
Development and now works at Thales.

As the Rohingya crisis deepened,
Coast Watcher 100 was operational on the western flank of Myanmar serving the
Site of the world’s fastest refugee exodus in a generation.

The Tatmadaw swept through Rohingya
Villages, kill and rape civilians. To escape, Rohingya piled on rickety
Boats. The Tatmadaw caught ship after ship.

In September 2017, during the frenzy of
the Rohingya crisis arranged the company Kyaw Thaung for Thales
Representatives to meet with senior Navy officers, another leaked
Document provided by Justice For Myanmar shows.

In a statement to the Times, Thales said:
that it « does not sell any defense systems to Myanmar ».

It is not clear whether the coast
Watcher 100 was specifically used for tracking the Rohingya. But the system
which can accommodate the presence of a small raft had clear military uses
during the escape of refugees.

Maintenance of the Coast Watcher 100
continues. Leaked defense budgets for 2020-21 show allocations in excess of
$ 160,000 to maintain the radar system. Last year $ 120,000 was spent
for the same purpose, a record of foreign currency transactions shows part of
Justice For Myanmar’s treasure trove.

Such spending is most likely against the
European Union trade embargo on Tatmadaw targeting devices that may
be used for repression, said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher at
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and an expert on Tatmadaw
Procurement. The trade ban was tightened in 2018 after the Rohingya
Massacre, against so-called dual-use products with civil or
military purposes.

“The Rohingya are a coastal group and
automatically anything checking coastal waters would be checked
for the Rohingya movement and could be used for oppression, end of story  »
Wezeman said, referring to the Thales surveillance system.

Ten Rohingya Muslim men with their hands tied kneel on September 1, 2017 in the village of Inn Din. Reuters

In 2017 MWG, the Kyaw Thaung Aviation
arranged the purchase of two Fokker aircraft from a branch of KLM Royal
Dutch airlines.

The planes are now transporting high-ranking
Tatmadaw officials. In September they were just flying to Moscow as the deputy junta
Guide visits Russia.

The purchase raised questions in the
Dutch Parliament on how the Fokkers landed with the Myanmar Air Force
Fleet. The Dutch investigation concluded that the aircraft were being bought for
commercial use by a Singaporean company. That company was Kyaw Thaung Aviation
Poor, although it was not registered in Singapore at the time.

“They are civil aircraft that are being delivered to
civil companies, but they are run by a military power with very bad ones
Reputation, ”said Martin Broek, an arms dealing expert who tracked the shipment
from Fokkers to Tatmadaw.

Even before the coup was made alien
Investments in Myanmar toxic, worries about the military spread
the Kyaw Thaung.

A human rights group docks at a British port
Operator on a “dirty list” of international companies with the
Tatmadaw; it operated TMT Ports, a container terminal in Yangon that the Kyaw
Thaungs was leased by a military conglomerate for up to 70 years.

In 2020, the British firm said it would
not renew his contract. Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company,
also announced not to use the terminal.

A few others in the family who are sincere
Undertakings have worked. A telecom bid failed. Despite securing the rights of
the military for a prime country in Yangon, the Kyaw Thaungs were incapable
convince foreign investors to build their “Lego concept” and
Sales room.

The Pegu Club is closed. Lots of
Civilian officials who attended the opening are now in jail.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung said he made it great
Loans to the port and don’t know how to pay the $ 3 million annually
rent. Most of Myanmar’s shipping industry has disappeared, he said. the
Currency has collapsed. The banking system is broken. The country is
broken without taking the COVID toll into account.

Jonathan Kyaw Thaung recently installed
in Naypyitaw, the bunker town that Yangon is the capital of
at the behest of the military at the beginning of this century. Most civilians have little affection
for the capital of Tatmadaw with its empty avenues and soulless services.

This summer when his children were playing
Around him in Naypyitaw, a group of villagers carrying machetes confronted him.
He said he defused the situation but was shocked by the encounter.

There has been parking for the past month or so
The garage of his Yangon office was bombed four times, he said. Nobody was
hurt.

Anonymous open letters since the coup
of former Tatmadaw officers have accused the Kyaw Thaungs of being among the
Myanmar’s military procurers. With security forces training their weapons
They were murdered by unarmed demonstrators and members of an armed resistance
suspected of being government collaborators.

« I don’t know what’s going to happen now, » he said
said. « Everything we’ve all done in the last 10 years is gone. »

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