Myanmar junta accuses Aung San Suu Kyi of illegally accepting $600,000 and gold

The allegations are the strongest yet made by the military against the former leader

A military spokesman said that the information on Aung San Suu Kyi had been verified (AFP via Getty Images)

Myanmar‘s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi illegally accepted $600,000 (£430,000) plus gold while in government, a junta spokesman said.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun also claimed President Win Myint, plus several cabinet ministers engaged in corruption and had pressured the country’s election commission not to act on the military’s reports of irregularities.

He said the claims had been verified and many people were being questioned, though no evidence was provided.

However, the accusation represents the strongest personal attack by the military on Aung San Suu Kyi since the coup by the armed forces at the beginning of February.

She, along with other former senior elected officials, remain under house arrest. 

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in elections held in November last year, a vote recognised as fair by international observers.

The NLD won almost 400 of the 498 seats being contested in a parliamentary election, an increase on the number of seats it had won in a previous vote in 2015.

However the military has subsequently claimed the election was fraudulent.

Since the coup took place on February 1, there has been widespread opposition towards the military.

Thousands have taken to the streets to demand the restoration of democracy and there has been international condemnation of the generals.

Some protests have turned violent and it is believed around 60 demonstrators have been killed by security forces. There are also allegations that those arrested have been tortured, including senior figures from the NLD.

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has spent much of that time under military rule, including from 1962 to 2011.

With Reuters