Intelligence (June 2005)

Regime to Move Key Ministries to Pyinmana

 

Several Burmese government ministries are to be moved from Rangoon to Pyinmana, in central Burma, where the regime is constructing a large new military headquarters.

 

The Ministries of Agriculture, Energy and Information are to relocate by October to a site about 2.5km west of Pyinmana, according to a directive issued by the regime in June. State-run Myanmar Television has already set up a new station in the area, and junta-controlled newspaper offices are expected to follow.

 

Pyinmana was the site of the military headquarters of Burma’s resistance movement led by independence hero Gen Aung San during the Japanese occupation in World War II. The area is strategically located within easy reach of Shan, Kayah, Chin and Karen States.

 

Local residents have observed a big military build up in the area and the start of major construction projects. The new military headquarters will reportedly comprise a Pentagon-style fortress of office buildings, bunkers, underground installations, military airstrips, housing and a 300-bed hospital.

 

Two major Burmese companies with close ties to the regime—Asia World and Htoo Trading— have reportedly been given most of the construction contracts.

 

Asia World Co Ltd, Burma’s biggest conglomerate, is owned by its chief executive, Lo Hsing Han, a known drug lord heavily involved in several businesses in Burma, including the construction of a highway between Mandalay and the Chinese border town Muse.

 

The managing director of Htoo Trading Company, Te Za, is close to junta supremo and armed forces chief  Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

 

 

Business Scams Reported in Rangoon

 

Rangoon’s business community is abuzz with reports of major financial scams involving huge sums of money.  At the center of one report is a brother-in-law of Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Maj-Gen Nyunt Tin. The general’s close relative, Myo Hein, is reported to have absconded to Singapore following a scam in which business people were cheated out of about US $30 million.