Yangon, October (1)
Businessmen have criticized the military council’s ban on paid access to information related to local and foreign companies in Myanmar as a protection against new cronies.
The military council has prohibited access to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) website, which provides paid access to comprehensive data on company operations in Myanmar, since September 26.
Previously, if you bought a copy of the company record by depositing 10,000 kyats to DICA, you could find out the company shareholders, their shareholding amounts, and the date of birth of the key people, as well as their passport numbers if they are foreign nationals.
Additionally, if you spend 20,000 kyats, you can learn about a company’s history.
A journalist remarked that it is returning to the dark ages and that the restriction on access to such information may be aimed at preventing the new cronies.
Analysts believe that the military council blocked the website due to a public boycott after reports of the companies linked to military generals who committed human rights violations and war crimes surfaced on social media since the coup.
Major General Moe Myint Tun, a lieutenant general and the current chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, has built family-owned businesses and is authorized to offer departmental tenders.
The Myanmar Center for Responsible Business (MCRB) was recently founded by the military council, but former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, who is attempting to boost the economy’s transparency, and her husband, artist Htein Lin, were imprisoned for baseless reasons.
In addition, the country’s well-known businessmen have been arrested and detained by the military council this year, so the businessmen who took advantage of the situation are doing business with the military council, and the authorities are trying to hide the information of these companies.
News – Than Lwin Times
