By admin 
(Bloomberg) — Thai authorities say they have found no evidence to support United Nations claims that some banks in the country helped Myanmar’s junta buy military supplies in 2023.
The Bank of Thailand and the Anti-Money Laundering Office said in a joint statement that they immediately began investigations and ordered financial institutions to review certain transactions following a June 2024 report from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights the United Nations.
“The investigation found that some financial institutions did conduct transactions with individuals listed in the OHCHR report, but no evidence was found that these transactions were related to the purchase of weapons,” they said.
The UN report, titled ‘Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar’, reported a fivefold increase in the military junta’s airstrikes on civilian targets as it lost outposts, territory and troops to the resistance. forces.
The report argued that the State Administration Council – the junta – is dependent on two primary sources from abroad: weapons and money.
“Thailand became the SAC’s main source of military supplies purchased through the international banking system,” the report said. “The transfer of weapons and related materials from companies registered in Thailand has doubled from more than US$60 million in FY 2022 to more than US$120 million in FY 2023.”
The BOT and AMLO report recognizes that there are areas where improvement is needed.
“It was noted that each of the financial institutions employed different levels of rigor in their activities,” and that there is a need to “elevate” certain counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering practices, the BOT and AMLO said -report.
The UN report said it found “no evidence that the government of Thailand was involved in or aware of these transfers.”
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