Minister for Planning and Finance Kyaw Win, who has been known under investigation for alleged corruption for weeks, has resigned from his post, according to an order released from the Office of the President on May 25. The short presidential order stated only one sentence that said Minister for Planning and Finance Kyaw Win was allowed to resign due to his will in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (b) of section 235 of the Constitution and sub-section (a) of section 68 of the Union Government Law, giving no additional clarification upon his resignation.
The order statement, publicised through the Office of the President’s Facebook page, came days after local reports that the anti-corruption commission of Myanmar was in the final stage of a probe into corruption allegations against Kyaw Win, quoting the anti-corruption commission members as saying. Apart from that information, both government spokesperson Zaw Htay and the commission had refused to offer further remarks as to the matter.
Kyaw Win’s case becomes Myanmar’s highest-level corruption investigation during the tenure of the incumbent government, which came to office in April 2016. It is also the second high-profile corruption probe following the case of the Director General of the Myanmar Food and Drug Administration since recent reorganisation of the anti-graft commission formed by the previous government in 2014.