UN expert says Thailand has now become Myanmar junta’s preferred banking destination as military attacks escalate

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A recent United Nations-supported report finds that the World Bank is playing a key role in the Myanmar military’s ability to carry out systematic and despicable attacks on its own crowds.

Thai banks have now become the primary source through which Myanmar’s military is purchasing guns and armed forces supplies – including parts for helicopter gunships – to back up its three-year civil war, which has ravaged the country. Destroyed and killed more than 5,000 civilians. Tom Andrews, the UN special envoy for human rights, said in a fresh filing on Wednesday.

Since seizing power in a coup in February 2021, the military has been waging a pitched battle against ethnic armed groups and mob resistance forces across Myanmar. It has suffered significant losses of dimensions and troops in recent months.

As it grapples with popular opposition and an economic situation that has led to rising levels of poverty, the junta has resorted to intensified airstrikes and attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, displacing more than 3 million people. Has been.

The military’s brutal campaign of violence has prompted Western countries to impose sweeping sanctions on military leaders, society and capitalists, state-owned companies, banks and jet gas services.

“The junta, or State Administration Council (SAC), is relying on two primary resources from abroad: weapons and cash,” Andrews said in the file.

The report, “Banking on the Death Trade: How banks and governments enable the military junta in Myanmar,” found that 16 banks in seven countries have processed transactions related to military purchases in the current year.

The report said the value of guns, dual-use technologies, production equipment and raw textiles flowed through the junta from abroad reached $253 million between April 2023 and March 2024.

Andrews said, “By relying on financial institutions willing to do business with the state-owned banks that Myanmar controls, the junta has access to the financial services needed to carry out systematic human rights violations, including air strikes on civilians.” ,

On the other hand, according to records, the amount of guns and military supplies purchased by the junta through international banks has been reduced by a third by 2023, with exports from Singapore dramatically reduced.

“The good news is that the junta has become increasingly isolated,” Andrews said. “The bad news is that the junta is circumventing sanctions and other measures by exploiting gaps in sanctions regimes, relocating financial institutions and the failure of member states to fully coordinate and enforce actions.”

Singapore-based entities have been the third-largest supplier of guns and clothing to Myanmar’s armed forces. However following a central authority investigation, supplies of gun materials to Myanmar from Singapore-registered companies have fallen by nearly 90% compared to the previous year.

In 2022, Singapore-based banks helped route more than 70% of the junta’s purchases through the banking system. The report found that this could fall to below 20% by 2023.

In search of alternative financial institutions, the junta searched neighboring Thailand.

Between 2022 and 2023, exports of guns and similar clothing from Thai-based entities are expected to rise to nearly $130 million, up from $60 million last year.

“Many SAC (junta) purchases previously made from Singapore-based entities, including parts for Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters used to conduct air strikes on civilian targets, are now being made to Thailand,” the file said. Are being ordered from.”

The report found that Siam Industrial Storage is one of the Thai banks that has played a “significant role” in this transformation. According to records, in 2022, Atari facilitated more than $5 million in transactions related to the military, which increased to more than $100 million by 2023.

CNN contacted Siam Industrial Storage for comment on the file, but did not receive a response.

“We have seen the report and are looking into it,” a spokesperson for Thailand’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs told CNN.

“A number of countries have been named and certainly these are the countries through which the majority of financial transactions in the region will pass,” the spokesperson said in a comment.

“Our banking and financial institutions follow the same banking protocols as any major financial centre. So we need to establish the facts before considering any further steps.

Andrews said it was “vital” that “financial institutions take their human rights obligations seriously and not facilitate the junta’s lethal transactions.”

Also, sanctioning the network that supplies jet gasoline to Myanmar Financial Storage, the junta and military’s “go-to bank,” “could play a decisive role in turning the tide in Myanmar and saving countless lives,” he said. . ,