» 01/19/2007 15:29 MYANMAR For military junta Aung San Suu Kyi is evading taxes National media made the accusation yesterday. In their view, her relatives have invested her money aboard. Ms Suu Kyi spent 11 of the past 17 years in prison or under house arrest.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – State media accused pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of evading taxes by investing her money from the 1991 Nobel Peace prize and other awards overseas. The human rights activist has been in prison or under house arrest for 11 of the last 17 years.
The military junta has regularly called Ms Suu Kyi a threat to national unity and accused her and her party of undermining the government by collaborating with foreign powers.
One paper, the New Light of Myanmar, wrote that she “avoided paying taxes to the state by asking her family members abroad to spend all her cash awards from international organisations and honorariums for works she had created abroad, instead of spending the money in the country.”
The junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Ms Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when her party won a landslide election victory.
For the paper Ms Suu Kyi’s behaviour is even more deplorable since the government has not jailed her in accordance with the law, but has only imposed some necessary restrictions.
