Pagoda raid may signal purge of reformers

The alleged corruption case involving the popular minister pales in comparison to graft allegations against other high-ranking members of the current government that have been swept under the carpet, political observers say.

“He is now under investigation for misuse of funds,” a government official from the president's office told DPA on condition of anonymity, confirming earlier reports by Eleven Media that also said the minister has been taken into custody by the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI).

Sources told Eleven Media that Hsan Sint was sacked because he vehemently opposed the controversial raid of a monastery in Yangon last week. 

Officials from his ministry, accompanied by around 300 riot police, seized the monastery in Yangon on June 10. Its ownership is disputed between the government-appointed State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee and its popular abbot Pyinya Wuntha. 

Five senior monks were defrocked and sent to Insein prison on June 13. They will be charged with trespassing, police said last week.

The BSI has filed a case against the minister under section 409/109 of the Penal Code, alleging state funds were used to build a pagoda in his name. State vehicles and staff, as well as fuel, were also used, the BSI alleges.

Hsan Sint was elected in Yekyi constituency, Ayeyarwaddy Region in the 2010 election as an MP for the ruling party. His arrest coincides with the appointment on June 19 of Thura Myint Maung to a presidential advisory group for religious affairs. Thura Myint Maung had been Religious Affairs Minister during the Saffron Revolution in September 2007, which saw a crackdown on pro-democracy monks. 

The capital is abuzz with rumours of imminent changes to the Cabinet. Those seen as reformers are likely to get sacked or retire early, while those with notorious reputations for graft are likely to ride out the government’s final year, sources say. 

Early last year, the telecoms minister resigned voluntarily amid widespread allegations of graft involving massive amounts of cash. No action was taken against him.

Political observers say corruption charges against top officials are usually politically motivated. 

“The amount of money paid to bribe an official at the director general or managing director level is in the range of tens of millions of kyat,” one entrepreneur said, adding that some had accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is unlikely that action will be taken against those looting the country until another government is elected, sources told Eleven.