The Myanmar Military Regime Confiscates The Bank Account Of The Foundation For One Of The Richest People In The World, George Soros

Rallies against the Myanmar military regime. (Twitter / CubaconAmalia)

JAKARTA - Myanmar's military regime, through state-controlled television MRTV, announced the confiscation of a bank account belonging to the social foundation Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Myanmar, which was founded by one of the world's richest men, billionaire George Soros.

In the announcement, the Myanmar military regime said it would take legal action against the OSF for violating restrictions on the organization's activities.

MRTV said the military had issued arrest warrants for 11 members of Myanmar's OSF staff, including its head and deputy head on suspicion of providing financial support to the civil disobedience movement (CDM) against the Myanmar military regime.

Cited from The Irrawaddy, the Myanmar military regime said the OSF did not get approval from the Department of Foreign Exchange Management, the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) for a deposit of USD 5 million or approximately 7.04 billion kyats at the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank (SMED) in Myanmar in 2018.

The foundation is also accused of illegally withdrawing USD 1.4 million from their SMED accounts a week after the Myanmar military coup, as the civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum among civil servants across the country.

The military junta also took over assets worth USD 3.81 million and 375 million kyats belonging to the OSF in four private banks, Bank Kanbawza (KBZ), Bank Ayeyarwady (AYA), SMED, and Bank Koperasi (CB).

Aung San Suu Kyi meets George Soros. (Source: gnlm.com.mm)

The military announced it was taking control of all illegal cash flows to Myanmar's OSF, saying the foundation had violated the laws that set rules and regulations for organizations in the country. In addition, SMED will also be subject to penalties, for allowing OSF to deposit USD 5 million and withdraw USD 1.4 million without obtaining approval from CBM.

For information, on March 12, the CBM notified all international non-governmental organizations (INGO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) regarding the reports of all financial transactions involving international organizations or individuals from abroad, with the relevant bank account information, since April 1, 2016.

The regime said the opening of the OSF Myanmar office came after George Soros met Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi four times between 2014 and 2017. Meanwhile, OSF deputy chairman Alexander Soros met Aung San Suu Kyi six times between 2017 and 2020.

The OSF has supported Myanmar's democratic transition and promoted human rights, including marginalized groups, since 1994. The foundation says it provides more than 100 grants each year, mostly to grassroots civil society organizations, including exiles, ethnic media, and educational organizations.

For information, OSF is an international grant network that was founded in April 1993, part of the Soros Foundation. Its goal is to help civil society groups around the world financially.

The foundation is active in the fields of justice, education, public health, and independent media. In addition, the foundation has branches in 37 countries with headquarters in New York, United States.

Regarding the Myanmar Coup. VOI editorial team continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Casualties from civilians continue to fall. Readers can follow the news surrounding the Myanmar military coup by tapping on this link.