Guwahati: Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Myanmar, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for corruption, bringing her total time behind bars to 26 years.
According to News Agency, Myanmar Now, the judgement was handed down by the Mandalay Region High Court in a junta-run, secret court inside the Naypyitaw Detention Center.
The businessman Maung Weik, who brought the accusations, claimed in a videotaped deposition taken by the military coup in March 2021 that the State Counselor had accepted more than USD 550,000 in bribes on the four occasions they had met between 2018 and 2020.
In a statement, businessman Weik claimed that Suu Kyi received the funds from him alone.
However, according to Myanmar Now, quoting a source in Naypyitaw who is aware with the court proceedings, at a hearing on May 31, he testified that he transferred the cash in question to a representative from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity established by Suu Kyi and named after her late mother.
Notably, the court had already imposed a total of 23 years in jail for 12 other offences; following Wednesday’s decision, the overall prison term increased to 26 years.
Businessman Weik is believed to have developed tight bonds with members of the military’s inner circle and to have run a variety of businesses through his contacts to Myanmar’s generals, according to Myanmar Now.
It is important to note that Myint Swe, the former military vice president who the junta nominated as interim president after the February 2021 coup that toppled Suu Kyi’s elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government, is also related to Maung Weik’s wife, according to Myanmar Now.
A special military court in Myanmar had earlier on September 29 jailed for three years the nation’s ousted leader and members of her economic team.
Sean Turnell, an economist from Australia who was jailed for breaking the Official Secrets Act, was a member of San Suu Kyi’s team, according to the news website The Irrawaddy.
The Mynamar military detained Turnell, a former important economic adviser to Suu Kyi, soon after the coup that toppled the National League for Democracy (NLD) administration last year.
After the military accused her of misusing her position as party head to benefit a private foundation named after her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, as well as a related project, she was given a six-year term on four corruption charges back in August.
Notably, Suu Kyi was detained by the military in February 2021 as it took control of Myanmar.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military, is the one who organised a coup against an elected civilian government in 2021 and imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi due to claimed electoral fraud.
Min Aung Hlaing proclaimed himself the leader of a recently established caretaker administration in August of last year. He reiterated his promise to hold elections by 2023 in a speech to the country on August 1.