For multinational companies doing business in Myanmar, finding the right local partner – one unstained by shady industries and cronyism – can be tricky.
Today it emerged that Microsoft has struck a systems upgrade agreement with Shwe Taung Group, whose controlling shareholder, Aik Htun, was once suspected by the US Treasury of having ties to the drugs trade.
One of his companies, Asia Wealth Bank, was placed on a sanctions list in 2004 after the US decided it was “linked to narcotics traffickers” and presented an “unacceptable risk of money laundering”, the Financial Times reported. It was taken off when the firm as subsequently liquidated.
Aik Htun says the accusations are false, implying he was the victim of jealous business rivals. “In Myanmar at that time the government was not transparent,” he told the Times. “There were so many rumors, [there was] so much jealousy.”
Microsoft, said the deal with Shwe Taung, active in insurance, construction and the building of high-profile projects like Junction Square Shopping Center, was the second largest it has done in Myanmar – after a systems upgrade for Kanbawza Group.
Many firms are looking to boost their technological capacities now that communications have been bolstered in Myanmar.
Many US sanctions have been removed but those still in place, against a range of businesses and individuals, continue to cause problems for global corporations – and politicians.
In July, Coca-Cola admitted its main local partner had ties to the shady jade trade, still under US sanctions – though the firm said it had not broken any laws.
And the hotel John Kerry stayed in last year while on a visit to Naypyitaw was owned by Zaw Zaw, a high-profile hotelier still under sanction.
Photo / Mike Mozart / Flickr
