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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 000114 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA, TREASURY FOR OASIA:AJEWELL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV SNAR BM
SUBJECT: BURMA: HOW THE WELL-CONNECTED MAKE MONEY 
 
RANGOON 00000114  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Aik Htun acknowledged that his position 
stems from his comfortable relations with major government 
and business players built on 30 years of experience working 
deals through the regime.  He denied the widespread 
allegations connecting him to narcotics trafficking and money 
laundering.  Aik Htun enjoys the regime's confidence, and 
benefits handsomely from its business.  Nevertheless, Aik 
Htun shared with us many of the same complaints we hear from 
less well-connected business reps about Burma's poor business 
climate and its citizens' low purchasing power caused by 
regime policies.  Although he may lose some business 
opportunities from the GOB's economic mismanagement, he 
continues to profit from close ties to the SPDC.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Aik Htun employs 3,000 workers in multiple companies 
in the construction, real estate, retail trading, agriculture 
and concrete sectors, and has profited handsomely from good 
relations with regime leaders. Signs for his brand of 
concrete, High Tech, adorn most large construction projects 
in Rangoon, while his construction company, Olympic, built 
major projects in Nay Pyi Taw and Rangoon.  On January 23, 
Aik Htun described for econoff his perspective on the current 
economic climate. 
 
Even Cronies Feel the Pinch 
--------------------------- 
¶3. (U) The move to Nay Pyi Taw caused real estate values and 
consumer demand in Rangoon to plummet, Aik Htun said.  Some 
of the downturn was offset for his businesses by new 
contracts for construction services and supplies in the new 
capital.  Massive construction in Nay Pyi Taw created huge 
demand for his businesses and continues to drive increased 
sales.  Private construction companies bought almost all 
their concrete for projects in Nay Pyi Taw from Aik Htun's 
High Tech.  When government officials could not obtain 
adequate cement from state factories for their own projects 
in the capital, they also bought from High Tech. 
 
¶4. (U) Aik Htun imports materials for his concrete from 
Thailand and Malaysia.  High Tech is one of only a few 
companies granted permits to import cement.  He receives 
preferential treatment in the import process, and said he has 
experienced no delays or difficulties, either in obtaining an 
import license from the Trade Policy Council chaired by Vice 
Senior General Maung Aye, or in customs clearance procedures. 
 This contrasts sharply with the experiences of less 
well-connected businesspersons, who complain about routine 
delays, unpredictability, and corruption in the import 
license and customs clearance processes. 
 
¶5.  (U) Aik Htun's construction and real estate development 
firms -- Olympic, Golden Tristar, and Shwe Taung -- built 
many of the largest projects around Rangoon, including 
housing complexes, shopping malls, schools, and medical 
facilities, as well as some buildings in Nay Pyi Taw.  He 
said the government instructed private firms to construct 
buildings in the new capital but paid very little for the 
work.  He preferred not to build in the new capital, but 
added that construction firms had no choice but to obey.  He 
told how he lost a great deal on money on an earlier 
government road project, when the GOB reneged on a commitment 
to allow builders to charge tolls to recoup their costs.  The 
government plans to build a new highway from Rangoon to Nay 
Pyi Taw, he said, but will use state-supplied cement.  Other 
builders tell us that construction materials in Nay Pyi Taw 
are now more expensive than those in Thailand due to high 
demand. 
 
¶6.  (U) Describing the construction industry overall, Aik 
Htun said the GOB does not award projects through a tender 
 
RANGOON 00000114  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
process, but rather, gives contracts to its favored firms, 
such as Tey Za's Htoo Construction company.  While Aik Htun 
claimed he did not have close personal ties to regime 
leaders, he has received approvals to develop many prime 
residential and commercial real estate locations in Rangoon. 
He said his Rangoon real estate development business slowed 
considerably after the capital moved to Nay Pyi Taw, and that 
many firms have halted construction projects until the market 
turns up again.  Purchasing power is low, according to him, 
and he can sell a 1,000 sq. ft. apartment in one of his 
buildings for only $5,000-10,000, when he had expected to 
offer them for $20,000 - $30,000.  His trading business, 
which mostly exports marine products, however, still earns 
strong profits.  He predicted that current economic 
conditions would continue through 2007, but that the 
situation might begin to improve in a few years. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Aik Htun is Chairman of the International Business 
Promotion Center (IBPC), a group of "the top 50 companies in 
the country," he claimed.  IBPC activities primarily support 
visiting foreign delegations and the travel of Burmese 
business delegations to other countries.  Relations with 
Chinese business interests are the most active, he said, 
through investments, joint ventures, trade and other business 
deals, and many IBPC members are second and third generation 
Chinese.  Acknowledging this importance, the IBPC 2005 and 
2006 Directories listed members' names in both English and 
Chinese.  While many members are leaders in their industry, 
most are not in Aik Htun's league. 
 
Bio Information 
--------------- 
¶8.  (U) Aik Htun was born in 1948 in Mine Kaing, southern 
Shan State.  He attended middle school in Mandalay and high 
school in Rangoon.  Although he has been called by some a 
"shadowy figure who emerged from in the early 1990's from 
Kokang," Aik Htun said he moved to Rangoon permanently in 
1970, and began work as a driver, biscuit shop owner, and tea 
trader, before he moved into agricultural trade, attracting 
investors and traded products between Burma, Thailand and 
China.  In 1991, he established Olympic Company with three 
other investors and retained 50% ownership.  In the 
beginning, Olympic imported cars and other commodities and 
exported marine products and timber.  The government, 
however, banned private exports of timber a short time later. 
 
¶9. (U) In the mid-90s, Aik Htun moved into the property 
development business and constructed many large commercial 
and residential projects, including the first shopping center 
in Rangoon and some of its first housing developments.  Close 
ties with the SPDC government were required to gain approval 
for all large projects, and the regime handed Aik Htun some 
of the most profitable properties. At the end of 1996, 
Olympic had invested $700 million in property development 
projects, and Aik Htun said he earned substantial returns. 
Olympic is still considered one of the most successful 
construction firms in the country. 
 
¶10. (U) With eight other shareholders and approximately $1 
million in capital, he opened Asia Wealth Bank (AWB) in 1995 
and become its Vice Chairman.  Annual profits rose steadily 
from $108,000 in 1995-96, and by 2000-01, AWB was the largest 
private bank in the country, with profits of  $6.7 million, 
deposits of  $333 million, and assets worth $367 million. 
Suspicious that the bank was laundering proceeds from drug 
traffickers and organized crime groups in Shan State, US 
Treasury designated Asia Wealth Bank a "Financial Institution 
of Primary Money Laundering Concern" in 2003, and cited Aik 
Htun as "having connections with the narcotics trade". 
Treasury rules prohibited covered institutions from 
 
RANGOON 00000114  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
maintaining banking relations with Asia Wealth, and in 2005, 
the GOB closed the bank for violations of banking 
regulations.  At a November 29, 2006, press conference, 
Police Chief Khin Yi stated, "though the investigation was 
unable to discover concrete evidence of money laundering, 
circumstantial evidence...indicates the possibility, and 
accordingly...(the bank license) was revoked." 
 
¶11. (SBU) Much speculation surrounds Aik Htun, including 
claims that has close ties to drug traffickers, who use 
Olympic to launder money.  Some local business 
representatives believe Aik Htun could not have amassed such 
profits at AWB without drug money.  Law enforcement agencies 
continue to suspect he was a drug trafficker, despite his 
claims to the contrary.  Others believe he is a front-man for 
Chinese businessmen, and that AWB provided a comfortable 
avenue for Chinese investors to enter the Burmese market and 
earn significant returns. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Aik Htun clearly enjoys the support of SPDC 
leaders, but does not have the close relationship enjoyed by 
the most privileged, such as Tey Za.  Aik Htun complained 
about treatment he received from the regime when officials 
closed AWB and banned most private companies, including his 
own, from the timber export trade.  When asked why some 
private businesses, e.g., Htoo Trading, continued, Aik Htun 
said that only very close friends of the regime can export 
timber now.  Despite these setbacks, he has managed to amass 
a great deal of wealth with GOB backing, and has good access 
to regime leaders. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Aik Htun meets the criteria in the Presidential 
Proclamation on Burma that restricts visa issuance.  He is 
annoyed that he is still subject to U.S. provisions, while 
the EU lifted its visa ban on him when AWB closed.  He seeks 
every opportunity to profess his innocence to Embassy 
employees.  Aik Tun's son, Aung Zaw Naing, and one daughter 
work in his family businesses. His second daughter studies 
business.  His wife's family has moved to Hong Kong, and his 
family travels there regularly.  He also maintains residences 
in Rangoon and in his home village in Shan State. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Comment: Business representatives, such as 
individual business leaders, the IBPC, and the Myanmar 
Chamber of Commerce and Industry have no power to influence 
government policy makers.  Rather, it is the close 
relationships nurtured with regime leaders that allow top 
firms to dominate the economy as they are awarded coveted 
construction contracts, export and import licenses, and 
purchase orders to supply the productive sectors, which are 
almost entirely controlled by SPDC leaders.  End Comment. 
VILLAROSA