Myanmar junta accuses Suu Kyi of accepting $800k in bribes
It claims she accepted $800k in illegal payments; asserts President, ministers also engaged in corruption
YANGON: Myanmar's military government accused deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday of accepting illegal payments, while eight people were killed when security forces opened fire on protests against the coup, witnesses said.
Junta spokesman, Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun, said Ms Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth US$600,000 (S$800,000) as well as gold while in government, according to a complaint by Mr Phyo Mien Thein, a former chief minister of Yangon.
"He strongly said that," the spokesman said. "We have verified those facts several times. Now the anti-corruption committee is continuing the investigation."
He said President Win Myint and several Cabinet ministers had also engaged in corruption and that the president had pressured the election commission not to act on the military's reports of irregularities.
The army has justified taking power on Feb 1 by saying that a November election, overwhelmingly won by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was marred by fraud - an assertion rejected by the electoral commission.
Meanwhile, rights group Amnesty International accused the military of adopting battle tactics against demonstrators.
Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a protest, a man who took part in the demonstration and helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters by telephone. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths.
One person was killed in the North Dagon district of Yangon, witnesses said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man prone on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was reported in Mandalay.
Before yesterday's deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, had said over 60 protesters have been killed and about 2,000 detained since the coup.
Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions.
"These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions," said Ms Joanne Mariner, the group's director of crisis response. "These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open."
A protester in Myanmar who said he was detained by troops for three hours as part of the crackdown described being beaten with belts, chains, bamboo sticks and batons.
The man said he was one of about 60 people picked up on Tuesday by the police in Myeik, a southern coastal town, as they hid in a house after a protest was broken up by security forces.
"We got beaten the whole time," he said.
"The soldiers said, 'This is the hell room, why don't you guys have a taste?'"
He described being told to kneel and said five of the group were told to face each other while they were beaten on their backs, heads, necks and sides.
He said he was later freed along with several others without explanation. Some others were formally arrested and sent to jail. - REUTERS
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