By FRONTIER
YANGON – President U Win Myint has nominated U Soe Win to become Minister of Planning and Finance, after approving the resignation on May 25 of former minister U Kyaw Win, amid an ongoing investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Soe Win is the managing partner for Deloitte in Myanmar and a member of the National Economic Coordination Committee. He also sits on the board of the Renaissance Institute, a think-tank that advises the government on economic policy, and is a member of the Yangon Bar Council.
A member of the NLD’s economic committee told Frontier that two other candidates had also been in the running for the role: U Myo Myint, chair of the Renaissance Institute, and Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance U “Winston” Set Aung.
Soe Win joined the Foreign Exchange Department of the State Commercial Bank as a deputy manager in 1961, according to a profile of his career by the Renaissance Institute.
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He trained at the Bank of England in 1976 and was appointed general manager of Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank in 1993, before leaving to join Pricewaterhouse Associates in 1996. Since then, he has worked in the private sector. In 2003, he founded Myanmar Vigour, which became a member firm of Deloitte in 2015.
On May 25 the President’s Office announced the resignation of Kyaw Win, who has been the focus of a corruption investigation for several weeks. The statement said the former minister resigned of his own volition.
However, it came two days after the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, confirmed that an investigation into a complaint against Kyaw Win was nearing completion.
U Aung Kyi told reporters outside parliament that a complaint had been filed against the finance minister on May 3 and that an investigation team was formed on May 7. He said a report would be submitted to parliament once the case was closed.
“This does not mean he is guilty. But a complaint must be investigated, whether it’s right or wrong. If there is guilt, we will frankly reveal it,” he said.
The Anti-Corruption Commission announced yesterday that it had completed its investigation and submitted a report with its findings to the President’s Office on May 25 in line with section 16(e) of the Anti-Corruption Law.
“Concerning with that issue, the commission will announce its decisions, except for the confidential matters, at the appropriate time,” the statement said.
Kyaw Win is the most senior member of the government to be investigated for corruption under the National League for Democracy.
