Court jails five ousted Arakan State ministers charged under Anti-Corruption Law

By DMG 19 Jan 2022

DMG Newsroom
19 January 2022, Sittwe

Charged under Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Law, five former Arakan State ministers including ousted Chief Minister U Nyi Pu were sentenced to several years in prison by an Arakan State court on Wednesday. 

The court sentenced the ex-chief minister, former economic minister U Kyaw Aye Thein, and former Minister for Electricity and Transport U Aung Kyaw Zan to nine years in prison with hard labour.  

In addition, former Minister for Municipal Affairs U Min Aung was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour, and former Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Mining U Kyaw Lwin received three years in prison with hard labour, according to a lawyer involved in the case. 

“The Arakan State court made a final decision for five former ministers including the ousted chief minister,” said Ko Kyaw Soe Lin, a lawyer with the Thazin Legal Aid Institute. 

U Nyi Pu, U Kyaw Aye Thein, U Aung Kyaw Zan and U Kyaw Lwin were accused of misappropriating funds in relation to a construction project in Gwa Township, as well as violating tender rules and regulations, and abuse of power.  

The prosecution of the Arakan State ministers has been widely viewed as the product of a court system at the beck and call of the military regime that seized power on February 1, 2021. 

U Nyi Pu was previously sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, on October 8 of last year. He is one of several high-profile members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) to face legal action in post-coup Myanmar, where judicial independence has foundered in the shadow of a military regime that has killed or imprisoned thousands of dissidents, with NLD affiliation being a common trait of those persecuted.  

“I don’t want to comment on the ruling. Needless to say, the military council is doing whatever it wants,” said U Nyi Pu’s daughter Ma Kyi Kyi Oo.  

The deposed Arakan State ministers turned defendants will appeal their cases, according to lawyers involved.