Suu Kyi faces fresh charges of corruption from junta

YANGON • 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 Feb 1 coup that removed Ms 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 of owning unlicensed walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions.

On Wednesday night, military broadcaster Myawady aired a video of a Myanmar businessman confessing to giving her a total of US$550,000 (S$739,000) over several years.

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

"Aung San Suu Kyi committed corruption and (the 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," Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told Agence France-Presse.

"Aung San Suu Kyi may have her defects... but bribery and corruption are not her traits," he said, adding that most people in Myanmar will not believe the allegations. However a conviction for bribery could see Ms Suu Kyi "prohibited from taking part in political activities", he said.

A state-run newspaper reported yesterday that a charity foundation, named after Ms Suu Kyi's mother, is also under investigation and is accused of not paying enough fees on land it uses that is owned by the state. "Further extensive investigation is being conducted into Daw Khin Kyi Foundation's cash flow, expenditure and savings," the Global New Light of Myanmar said.

Myanmar faced growing isolation yesterday, with increasingly limited Internet services and its last private newspaper ceasing publication.

Asian neighbours have offered to help find a solution, but the military has a long record of shunning outside pressure.

Several thousand people marched in the town of Natmauk yesterday, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported. The central town is the birthplace of General Aung San, the leader of Myanmar's drive for independence from colonial power Britain, and Ms Suu Kyi's father.

About 1,000 protesters on motorcycles drove around the central town of Taungoo and hundreds marched in the northern jade-mining town of Hpakant, the Irrawaddy news service reported. There were no reports of violence yesterday.

Soldiers and police had terrorised several battle-scarred Yangon neighbourhoods on Wednesday night. According to a doctor from the South Okkalapa township, "security forces threatened to shoot" residents if they did not remove the barricades that demonstrators have built across the commercial capital as they battle the authorities.

Protesters were back on the streets yesterday, with some in Yangon testing a giant slingshot to shoot projectiles, while hundreds of civil servants marched in Mandalay and students and demonstrators rallied in Myangyan.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS