Documents show that General Min Aung Hlaing's son and daughter own condo and bank accounts. Thai authorities were investigating Tun Min Latt, a businessman friend of the general. Thailand has never condemned the coup and so far has not seized assets linked to Myanmar’s military.
Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Thai authorities raided the home of a Myanmar businessman suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering. Among the items found were assets that belong to two adult children of General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military junta.
Tun Min Latt, 53, runs hotels, owns mines, and is involved in energy-related businesses. He was arrested last September along with three Thai associates, and is now in custody in Bangkok.
He has long been closely associated with Myanmar’s military, providing military equipment. His holding, the Star Sapphire Group of companies, brokered the imports of Israeli reconnaissance drones and aircraft parts for the Myanmar Air Force.
Star Sapphire is also a partner of two military-controlled enterprises, Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and Myanmar Economic Corporation.
Myanmar’s military ousted the country’s civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February 2021, setting off a civil war and violent repression against civilians that show no sign of stopping soon.
Documents found by police at Tun Min Latt's home in Belle Grand Rama 9 condominium, in the Thai capital, show that General Min Aung Hlaing’s children, son Aung Pyae Sone and daughter Khin Thiri Thet Mon, own a luxury apartment (worth almost one million dollars) and hold two accounts with the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB).
Both, along with their father, were placed under sanctions by the United States and Canada after the coup, but, according to people familiar with the case, they will not face any legal action as Thai authorities do not consider them relevant to the investigation against Tun Min Latt.
During the September raid, assets (cars, watches and over 0,000 in cash) worth US$ 8.96 million were confiscated. Khin Thiri Thet Mon's bank account was closed but it was not possible to determine by whom or when.
A spokesperson for human rights group Justice for Myanmar, which obtained and reviewed the seized records, called on the Thai government to take “urgent action to prevent it from becoming a haven for Myanmar war criminals by blocking the illegitimate Myanmar junta and its members from accessing Thai banks and property and by freezing stolen assets that belong to the people of Myanmar”.
Thailand shares a land border with Myanmar that stretches more than 2,000 kilometres but so far has never openly condemned the military coup; on the contrary, it has continued to invite Myanmar representatives to regional summits.
General Min Aung Hlaing maintains good personal relations with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, another army general who came to power in a coup and is now running for re-election in May.