Myanmar junta airs Suu Kyi bribery claims
March 23, 2021 03:14 pm
Myanmar’s ruling military has shown video testimony at a televised news conference of a former top Yangon official alleging corruption by ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, including receiving cash, gold bars and silk.
The military on Tuesday showed video testimony of former Yangon chief minister Phyo Min Thein saying he visited Suu Kyi multiple times and gave her money “whenever needed”.
It also showed a mayor of Naypyitaw alleging her National League for Democracy party had committed electoral fraud by inventing voters, including in one township tripling the number.
The military also accused anti-junta protesters of arson and violence as Western countries imposed more sanctions on individuals and groups linked to last month’s coup and an ensuing brutal crackdown on dissent.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said 164 protesters had been killed in the violence and expressed sadness at the deaths.
“They are also our citizens,” he told a news conference in the capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group says at least 261 people have been killed in the harsh crackdown by security forces.
Three people were killed in Myanmar’s second city, Mandalay in unrest on Monday, including a teenage boy, witnesses and news reports said.
Security forces staged more raids in parts of Yangon on Monday night with shots fired and some people wounded, the Mizzima news service reported.
-Agencies
