26/03/2025

WEDNESDAY | MAR 26, 2025

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Tycoon appeals in US$17.7b money-laundering case

UK sanctions Sri Lankan ex-commanders

Myanmar clinic bombed, doctor and wife killed YANGON: An airstrike on a remote village clinic killed 11 people including a doctor and his wife. Villagers said the Saturday morning airstrike hit the village of Hnan Khar in the western region of Magway, in a zone held by rebels. Military spokesmen could not be reached for comment. “It flew very low and I heard a loud bomb blast,” said one villager on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “When I went to clear up the area I saw human body parts. It was terrible and my mind is still tarumatised by the image.” The eyewitness and a second man from the village said a doctor and his wife were among the 11 killed when the explosion tore through a makeshift clinic in a house. “The military is attacking more frequently with airstrikes in recent months and all civilians are very afraid,” said the villager, also speaking on condition of anonymity on Monday. “They listen for the sound of fighter jets.” While Myanmar’s military has suffered territorial losses, analysts say its airforce, maintained with Russian technical support, has been key to keeping its adversaries at bay. The number of airstrikes on civilians has risen, according to non-profit organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), with nearly 800 reported last year. That figure was more than triple the previous year and ACLED predicted the military will continue to rely on airstrikes because it is “under increasing military pressure on the ground”. – AFP LONDON: Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on three former senior Sri Lankan military commanders and one former rebel commander over human rights violations during a civil war that ended in 2009. The measures, which include bans on travelling to Britain and asset freezes, target the former chief of staff of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Shavendra Silva, former commander of the Navy Wasantha Karannagoda and former commander of the Army Jagath Jayasuriya. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, known as Karuna Amman, a former commander in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was also sanctioned. Amman split from the LTTE before the war ended and later led a paramilitary group working for the Sri Lankan Army. The United Nations estimates that 80,000 100,000 people died in the 26-year war between government forces and separatists. Sri Lanka’s army and security forces have been accused of war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence, and of abductions and torture long after the end of the war. A UN panel in 2011 found “credible allegations” of serious violations by both sides “some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”. Sri Lanka has always denied such allegations, but refused to cooperate with international investigators. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “The UK government is committed to human rights in Sri Lanka, including seeking accountability for human rights violations and abuses which took place during the civil war, and which continue to have an impact on communities today.” – Reuters

o Eight lawyers plead on behalf of developer

will be defended by eight lawyers, according to state media. The 68-year-old was found guilty of laundering US$17.7 billion and illegal cross border trafficking of US$4.5 billion. She was also found guilty of bond fraud to the tune of US$1.2 billion. The court determined that Lan was “the mastermind, committed the crime with sophisticated methods, many times, causing especially serious consequences”. Thirty-three other defendants were also sentenced at the court in Ho Chi Minh City and given terms ranging from two to 23 years in prison. Twenty-seven defendants are appealing against their sentences, state media said. During her first trial in April, Lan was found guilty of embezzling US$12.5 billion but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam totalled US$27 billion – equivalent to around 6% of the country’s 2023 GDP. Lan owned just 5% of shares in SCB on paper but at her trial the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90% through family, friends and staff. Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims. – AFP

HO CHI MINH CITY: The appeal of a Vietnamese property tycoon convicted of money laundering began yesterday, three months after she lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case. Property developer Truong My Lan was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and sentenced to death for fraud amounting to US$27 billion (RM119.87 billion). Lan appealed against that verdict and the court said there was no basis to reduce her sentence, but ruled that she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three quarters of the stolen assets. Now she is appealing against the verdict from a second trial in October, in which she was sentenced to life in prison for three crimes. Lan, now accustomed to high-profile hearings, chatted yesterday with police officers and looked relaxed as she waited for the court to start in Ho Chi Minh City. Her niece, Truong Hue Van, who was handed a five-year prison term in October for Around 1,000 students and activists dressed in black took part in the protest in front of an East Java government building. Holding posters that said “Reject the Military Law”, and “The Military Should Return to the Barracks”, protesters hurled rocks, sticks and Molotov cocktails towards the police guarding the demonstration. Police eventually used water cannons to disperse the protesters. “We received information that 25 people are being detained, but we are unable to give them legal assistance,” said Fatkhul Khoir, a human rights activist from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence. He said that some of the protesters taken to the police office looked bruised. The police did not respond to AFP’s request for comments. The Indonesian parliament approved the amendments to the military law on Thursday, despite protests that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defence in a country long influenced by its powerful armed forces. The new law allows active military officers to hold a position in 14 government institutions without resigning, an increase from 10

Lan (left) and her niece Van in the Ho Chi Minh City court yesterday. – AFPPIC fraudulent appropriation of property, sat behind her, flanked by officers. It is the first time Lan is in the dock without her husband, Chu Nap Kee, who is not challenging a two-year sentence he was handed for money laundering in October. The appeal will last until April 21 and Lan

Protesters clash with police in Surabaya SURABAYA: A violent clash broke out on Monday in Surabaya between police and demonstrators protesting against the country’s newly passed military law.

Police shield themselves from stones thrown by students during a protest. – AFPPIC

active-duty military personnel and weaken legal checks on abusive officials. The passing of the law was immediately met with protests in several cities. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters after thousands of protesters attempted to storm into the parliament building in Jakarta last week. – AFP

institutions in the previous law. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of late dictator Suharto, under whom Prabowo, a former general, once served and which saw military figures used to crack down on dissent. Rights groups have said the change would enable officials to fill more civilian posts with

US$1.4m payout for wrongly convicted man TOKYO: A former boxer wrongly convicted of murder, who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, has been awarded US$1.4 million (RM6.2 million) in compensation, an official said yesterday. of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. The Shizuoka District Court, in a decision dated Monday, said that “the claimant shall be granted ¥217,362,500,000”, said a court spokesman.

interrogations meant to force a statement (confession)” that he later withdrew, the court said at the time. The final amount is a record for compensation of this kind, local media said. But Hakamada’s legal team has said the money falls short of the pain he suffered. Decades of detention with the threat of execution looming have taken a toll on his mental health. – AFP

The payout represents ¥12,500 (RM368) for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row. Hakamada, now 89, was exonerated last year

The court ruled in September that Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial and that police had tampered with evidence. Hakamada had suffered “inhumane