Is Soros Backing Unrest in Myanmar? Military Junta Arrests Open Society Director and Staff


George Soros met Aung San Suu Kyi in New York on 24 September 2016. Photo: Global New Light of Myanmar

Guest post by Richard Abelson

The military junta has arrested the executive director of the Open Society Foundations in Myanmar and issued warrants for the arrest 11 other OSF members, due to financial irregularities. which it blames for supporting election fraud and uprisings.

The Open Society Finance Officer Phyu Pa Pa Thaw was arrested March 12 over alleged finance irregularities and arrest warrants issued for OSF Executive Director Dr, Myo Myint Aung, Chairman U Sit Naing and 9 other OSF employees.

Local officials charge that OSF transferred US$ 5 million to the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank (SMED) in 2018 without seeking required permission from the Foreign Exchange Management Department (FEMD), among other financial charges, as the government-aligned Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

Open Society Foundation chairman George Soros has prioritized OSF Myanmar since 2015, as Gateway Pundit reported yesterday. Soros visited Myanmar four times from March 2014 to January 2017 and met with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi two times, the first time in the US and the second in Nay Pyi Taw, Global New Light reported. His son Alexander Soros, deputy chair of the Open Society Foundation, visited Myanmar seven times from January 2017 to January 2020 and met with Aung San Suu Kyi six times.

Following accusations of fraud in the Nov. 8 elections in Myanmar, which Human Rights Watch called “fundamentally flawed”,  the military assumed power on Feb. 1. President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were detained, along with other ministers and members of Parliament.

“Claims of financial misconduct, including that OSM acted illegally by withdrawing their own funds in local currency from the SMID bank, are false,” Open Society Foundations said, as Reuters reported.  “Claims that OSM used these funds for illegal purposes are false. These funds were used for purposes fully within the objectives of OSM.”

Western media have reported that the military crackdown on the Civil Disobedience Movement has killed more than 180 people in Myanmar, including 74 on Sunday alone. These reports are largely based on claims by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is referred to as “a long-term OSI grantee based in Asia” on the Open Society website.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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