Dear World,

Min Aung Hlaing and his military have abruptly taken over power of our country Myanmar on Feb 1st, 2021.

Min Aung Hlaing has ultimate authority over Myanmar’s two military conglomerates, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). He is the head of the Patron Group of MEHL and one of the biggest shareholders, overseeing business interests throughout Myanmar. These businesses were built through the systemic corruption of military dictatorship and the theft of public assets, which expanded under Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s leadership. 

Min Aung Hlaing has also abused his power to benefit his family, who have profited from their access to state resources and the military’s total impunity.

Aung Pyae Sone, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s son, operates a number of known businesses. His medical supply business, A&M Mahar, sells Food and Drug Administration clearances and brokers imports, as well as trading and marketing pharmaceuticals and medical technology.

In 2019, Aung Pyae Sone came under public scrutiny for his ownership of Yangon Restaurant and Yangon Gallery in People’s Park, adjacent to Shwedagon Pagoda. He was awarded an artificially low land lease from the Yangon Regional government and serves alcohol in breach of a Yangon City Development Committee prohibition.

Aung Pyae Sone also owns Azura Beach Resort, which promotes itself as the “largest resort in Chaung Tha”. Shortly after the NLD’s victory in 2015, the Myanmar Investment Commission, under the USDP-led government, granted a permit to Sky One Construction to build a resort on 22.22 acres of land leased from the government, in a systemic conflict of interest. Sky One Construction is owned by Aung Pyae Sone.

In 2016, Winning Star, a company owned by Aung Pyae Sone’s business partner in Sky One Construction, which formerly operated out of the same address, won a 250-million-kyat contract from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism to develop the Mrauk-U Hotel. Mrauk-U is the ancient capital of Arakan State, where there has been intense fighting over the last year between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army.  

Aung Pyae Sone’s wife, Myo Yadanar Htaik is also in business, including as a director of Nyein Chan Pyae Sone Manufacturing & Trading Company with her husband. Until recently, she was a director of Apower, a subsidiary of crony company Aung Myin Thu Group, which has a real estate development in Mingaladon Township of Yangon.

Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter, Khin Thiri Thet Mon, owns Seventh Sense, a media production business that makes big-budget films and has exclusive contracts with Nay Toe and Wut Hmone Shwe Yi. Nay Toe features prominently in marketing for Mytel, the mobile operator that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing established with MEC, being awarded the government's share in the venture. Khin Thiri Thet Mon also owns Everfit, a chain of luxury gyms.

These family business interests are likely the tip of the iceberg. As long as the military remains outside of democratic oversight and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing can continue to abuse his power for personal gain, it is not possible to gauge the family’s true wealth and assets.

While Senior General Min Aung Hlaing threatens a coup to supposedly uphold the integrity of Myanmar’s electoral process, it is important to examine his economic interests, as head of the military’s economic conglomerates and the business interests of his family. His economic activities have been the subject of growing domestic and international criticism, causing reputational risk for the military’s international business partners like Kirin Holdings and Pan-Pacific.

Since 2019, scrutiny of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military’s economic interests has increased, after the UN Fact-Finding Mission published a report that implicated military-owned businesses in genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Furthermore, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is at the center of international efforts for accountability for the crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The people of Myanmar and the rank-and-file of the military continue to suffer from the rampant corruption and systemic conflict of interest under Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s leadership. If democratization in Myanmar progresses and there is accountability for his criminal conduct, he and his family stand to lose their revenue streams.

Public assets stolen by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his family must be returned to the people. Without action from a democratically elected government, there is a high risk that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing will try to hang onto power as Commander-in-Chief and use it to continue to amass wealth through military conglomerates and his family businesses, while the majority of the people of Myanmar and the rank-and-file of the military live in poverty.

Threatening a coup does not benefit the people of Myanmar or the rank-and-file soldiers Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is tasked to lead. Moreover, attempting to do so at the end of his term as head of the military, which he has used to enrich himself and his family, indicates a financial motive, in addition to his desire to hold onto political power. Who really benefits from a coup?