Current:Home > BackMyanmar military court sentences general ousted from ruling council to 5 years for corruption-LoTradeCoin
Myanmar military court sentences general ousted from ruling council to 5 years for corruption
View Date:2024-12-23 20:45:36
BANGKOK (AP) — A military court in Myanmar has sentenced a general who until recently was a senior member of the country’s ruling council to five years in prison for abusing his authority and taking bribes, state-run media reported Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Soe Htut, who was home affairs minister as well as a member of the ruling State Administration Council, is the latest senior officer to be jailed for corruption since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than 2 1/2 years ago.
A report in Saturday’s state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Soe Htut abused his rank and authority by directing subordinates to issue passports to companies at their request, accepted bribes and failed to ensure that financial rules and regulations were followed for the staff welfare fund of the home affairs ministry.
The newspaper described him as a former general, which means he has already been dismissed from the army.
Soe Htut had been reportedly under investigation intermittently in the capital, Naypyitaw, since September — about the same time that other generals and senior officials in the military government were detained in alleged corruption cases.
Last month, a military tribunal sentenced two other senior generals to life imprisonment after they were found guilty of high treason, accepting bribes, illegal possession of foreign currency and violating military discipline.
Myanmar’s military leadership is known for being close-knit and secretive, and the arrests of senior generals are a rare public indication that there may be splits within its ranks.
Soe Htut had served in the important post of home affairs minister from 2020 until August this year. He then assumed the less influential position of union government office minister until he lost that job and nominally resumed his military duties in late September. He was also removed from the State Administration Council in a reshuffle in September.
He had been a target of critics of the military government because he managed the home affairs ministry, which was closely involved in the brutal repression of the pro-democracy movement that arose to oppose the 2021 army takeover.
In July last year he reportedly supervised the execution of four political prisoners, including a democracy activist and a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, according to Myanmar Now, an independent online news site.
Suu Kyi, whose elected government was ousted by the army in 2021, has been jailed on several corruption charges that are widely seen as being fabricated for political reasons.
veryGood! (73)
Related
- Jessica Simpson’s Sister Ashlee Simpson Addresses Eric Johnson Breakup Speculation
- 'Whirlwind' change from Jets to Ravens, NFL playoffs for Dalvin Cook: 'Night and day'
- The Associated Press wins duPont-Columbia award for Ukraine war documentary ’20 Days in Mariupol’
- Britney Spears fans, Justin Timberlake battle on iTunes charts with respective 'Selfish' songs
- Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson get Songwriters Hall of Fame nods
- Supreme Court is urged to rule Trump is ineligible to be president again because of the Jan. 6 riot
- AP Week in Pictures: Asia
- Data breaches and ID theft are still hitting records. Here's how to protect yourself.
- A crowd of strangers brought 613 cakes and then set out to eat them
- Jannik Sinner knocks out 10-time champ Novak Djokovic in Australian Open semifinals
Ranking
- Businesses at struggling corner where George Floyd was killed sue Minneapolis
- Tesla recalls nearly 200,000 vehicles over faulty backup camera
- New England Patriots WR Kayshon Boutte charged in illegal sports gaming scheme
- 'In the Summers,' 'Didi' top Sundance awards. Here are more movies we loved.
- Mike Tyson-Jake Paul: How to watch the fight, time, odds
- Dancer Órla Baxendale’s Final Moments Revealed Before Eating Cookie That Killed Her
- Pentagon watchdog says uncoordinated approach to UAPs, or UFOs, could endanger national security
- Kenya’s high court rules that deploying nation’s police officers to Haiti is unconstitutional
Recommendation
-
Wind-whipped wildfire near Reno prompts evacuations but rain begins falling as crews arrive
-
Justice Department finds Cuomo sexually harassed employees, settles with New York state
-
Brittany Watts, Ohio woman charged with felony after miscarriage at home, describes shock of her arrest
-
Greta Gerwig deserves more than an Oscar for portrayal of motherhood in 'Barbie'
-
Federal judge orders Oakland airport to stop using ‘San Francisco’ in name amid lawsuit
-
US nuclear agency isn’t consistent in tracking costs for some construction projects, report says
-
Why Sharon Stone Says It's Stupid for People to Be Ashamed of Aging
-
JetBlue informs Spirit “certain conditions” of $3.8 billion buyout deal may not be met by deadline