Page 5 - aruba-today-20221013

A5
WORLD NEWS Thursday 13 OcTOber 2022
Graft convictions extend Suu Kyi’s prison term to 26

years

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press
BANGKOK (AP) — A court
in military-ruled Myanmar
convicted the country’s
ousted leader Aung San
Suu Kyi on two more cor-
ruption charges Wednes-
day, with two three-year
sentences to be served
concurrently, adding to
previous convictions that
now leave her with a 26-
year total prison term, a le-
gal official said.
Suu Kyi, 77, was detained
on Feb. 1, 2021, when
the military seized power
from her elected govern-
ment. She has denied the
allegations against her
in this case, in which she
was accused of receiving
$550,000 as a bribe from a
tycoon convicted of drug Myanmar’s then leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during a meeting on implementation
of Myanmar Education Development in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020.
trafficking. Associated Press
Corruption cases comprise
the biggest share of the publicly on her behalf or which was involved in ur- two three-year sentences
many charges the military about her trial since a gag ban development work. to be served concurrently
has brought against the order was placed on them Under Suu Kyi’s govern- was conveyed by a legal
1991 Nobel Peace lau- last year. ment, Maung Weik won a official who insisted on an-
reate. Suu Kyi has been In the case decided major development proj- onymity for fear of being
charged with 12 counts in Wednesday, Suu Kyi was ect that included the con- punished by the authorities.
total under the anti-corrup- accused of receiving a to- struction of houses, restau- He added that her lawyers
tion act, with each count tal of $550,000 in 2019 and rants, hospitals, economic are expected to file an ap-
punishable by up to 15 2020 from Maung Weik, zones, a port and hotel peal in the coming days.
years in prison and a fine. with separate payments zones in Myanmar’s central In separate proceedings,
Suu Kyi had already been being treated as two of- Mandalay region. Suu Kyi is still being tried
sentenced to 23 years’ fenses. He was reportedly inter- together with the coun-
imprisonment after be- Maung Weik, a construc- rogated by the army two try’s former president, Win
ing convicted of illegally tion magnate, had a close weeks after its takeover, Myint, on another five cor-
importing and possess- relationship with the army and shortly after that, ruption charges in connec-
ing walkie-talkies, violat- generals in power during in March 2021, military- tion with permits granted to
ing coronavirus restrictions, a previous military-run gov- controlled state television a Cabinet minister for the
breaching the country’s of- ernment, and has headed broadcast a video in which rental and purchase of a
ficial secrets act, sedition, two main companies dur- he claimed to have given helicopter.
election fraud and five cor- ing three decades in busi- cash payoffs to govern- Suu Kyi has been the face
ruption charges. ness: Maung Weik & Family ment ministers to help his of the opposition to military
Her supporters and inde- Co. Ltd., specializing in the businesses. A state-con- rule in Myanmar for more
pendent analysts say the trading of metals and agri- trolled newspaper, the than three decades. The
charges are politically mo- cultural products, and Sae Global New Light of Myan- previous military govern-
tivated and an attempt Paing Development Ltd., a mar, reported in February ment put her under house
to discredit her and legiti- real estate and construc- that Suu Kyi in her position arrest in 1989, which con-
mize the military’s seizure tion company. as state counselor — the tinued on-and-off for 15 of
of power while keeping her He was sentenced to 15 country’s de facto chief the next 22 years.
from taking part in the next years in prison in 2008 for executive — received Her National League for
election, which the military trafficking drugs but was $550,000 in four installments Democracy party initially
has promised in 2023. released in 2014 under a in 2019-2020 “to facilitate came to power after win-
In recent months, her trials semi-democratic transi- the business activities of a ning the 2015 general elec-
have been held in a pur- tional government led by private entrepreneur.” tion, ushering in a true civil-
pose-built courtroom in the former Gen. Thein Sein. Suu Kyi’s close colleague, ian government for the first
main prison on the outskirts After his release from pris- Zaw Myint Maung, who time since a 1962 military
of the capital, Naypyitaw. on, Maung Weik returned served as a chief minister in coup. However, democrat-
She has not been seen or to doing business with for- the Mandalay region, was ic reforms were small and
allowed to speak in public mer generals and accord- separately accused of re- slow in coming, largely be-
since she was arrested. Her ing to a 2017 report in The ceiving more than $180,000 cause the military retained
lawyers, who had been a Irrawaddy, an online news from Maung Weik and was substantial power and influ-
source of information on magazine, became chair- convicted of corruption in ence under the terms of a
the proceedings, have not man of Mandalay Business June. Wednesday’s ver- constitution it had enacted
been allowed to speak Capital City Development, dict sentencing Suu Kyi to in 2008.q