SUU KYI FACES NEW GRAFT CHARGES

Video of businessman confessing to giving her US$550,000 aired on Wednesday

MYANMAR’S ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, faces fresh corruption charges from the ruling junta that her lawyer said yesterday were “groundless” but could ensure she would never be able to return to politics.

The coup on Feb 1 that ousted Suu Kyi’s government has brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets to confront the generals, who have responded with a brutal crackdown that has left at least 200 dead.

The new military regime has already issued several criminal charges against the Nobel laureate since she was detained alongside top political allies, including owning unlicensed walkietalkies and violating coronavirus restrictions.

On Wednesday night, military broadcaster Myawady aired a video of a Myanmar businessman confessing to giving her US$550,000 over several years.

Maung Weik said he had donated money to senior government figures for the good of his business.

“Suu Kyi committed corruption and (authorities) are preparing to charge her according to anti-corruption law,” an announcer said during the broadcast.

This is not the first time corruption allegations have been lodged against her.

Last week, a junta spokesman said a now-detained chief minister had admitted to giving her US$600,000 and more than 10kg of gold bars.

“Those accusations are groundless,” Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, said.

“Aung San Suu Kyi may have her defects, but bribery and corruption are not her traits,” he said, adding that most people in Myanmar would not believe the allegations.

However, a conviction for bribery in a case against her “personal character” could see Suu Kyi “prohibited from taking part in political activities”, Zaw said.

Soldiers and police terrorised several battle-scarred Yangon neighbourhoods on Wednesday night, as a mobile data blockade combined with an Internet shutdown pushed scared residents further into an information blackout.

“Security forces threatened to shoot” residents if they did not remove the barricades that demonstrators had built across the commercial capital as they battled authorities, according to a doctor from the South Okkalapa township.

They also raided homes and arrested at least 10 people, he said.

In neighbouring Thingangyun township, one man said he heard continuous gunfire for 30 minutes before midnight, adding that he had put cotton buds in the ears of his two sons so they could fall asleep.

Protesters were back on the streets yesterday, with some in the city testing a giant slingshot to shoot projectiles.

Sunday was the bloodiest day since the coup, with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group recording more than 70 deaths across the country.

The bulk of the death toll was in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharya, an impoverished garment-producing township mostly housing Chinese-owned factories, with the junta later imposing martial law on the area.

Five other townships were also placed under martial law by Monday, which shunts nearly two million of the city’s sprawling population under the direct control of military commanders.