Myanmar Junta Preparing To Seize Assets Of Suu Kyi-Founded Charity

Myanmar’s military regime is moving to seize the assets of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by jailed former State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and named after her mother. The foundation was established in 2012 to promote improvements in the health, education and living standards of the Myanmar people, especially in the country’s least-developed areas. The not-for-profit provided free vocational training and carried out humanitarian work. Following last year’s coup, the foundation announced that it was closing temporarily. The junta then launched an investigation into the finances of the foundation, sealed off its offices and charged Suu Kyi with four counts of corruption, regarding the leasing of land in Naypyitaw and Yangon to the charity by the then ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government. A junta court in Naypyitaw has since sentenced Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison on those charges. The regime-controlled Union Attorney-General Office recently submitted an appeal to amend the court’s rulings, a source familiar with the case told The Irrawaddy. One striking judge who asked for anonymity said: “I assume they [the junta] submitted the appeal in order to seize the possessions such as land, buildings and cash of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.” The charity had assets of over US $1 million and more than six billion kyats, besides more than 17.8 million kyats held in bank accounts and properties in Yangon and Naypyitaw worth billions of kyats.