Wei crony detained

U Tar Wai, reputed as a close associate of Wei Hsuekang, Commander of the United Wa State Army’s 171st Military Region, is among those taken into custody in connection with the Myanmar Universal Bank, the third privately-owned bank ordered closed by Rangoon during the year, said sources from Tachilek and Maesai.

The ethnic Chinese businessman, also known as Sai Hsarm, was arrested at his Rangoon home, according to one of his relatives. Five of his business associates in Tachilek have disappeared since his custody last week.

U Tar Wai, who grew up in Kengtung and speak fluent Shan, had developed intimate relationships with the official circle and it was through his solicitations that the MUB founders had won official sanction to set up their bank, said one.

His arrest nevertheless had surprised several people on the border. “His company (Wai Family Electrical Production and Supplies Co.Ltd.) won the bid to supply power to Tachilek residents in 2002 after Burma cut off the power lines from Thailand despite the outrageous costs involved,” said a Tachilek local. “His rivals, on the other hand, had offered better cost-effective proposals which were unceremoniously turned down.”

The Myanmar Universal Bank was taken over by the state-run Myanmar Economic Bank on 8 August, two days after soldiers raided the homes of the bank’s major shareholder Tint Sein and his managing director Win Kyaw and detained the two

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