Myanmar News Articles: Rangoon’s Sedona Hotel Investigating Alleged Secret-Camera Footage

A view of the Sedona Hotel in Rangoon on the website of Singapore-based Kepple Land. (Photo: Kepple Land)

RANGOON — One of Rangoon's high-end hotels has launched an internal investigation after video clips spread on Facebook purporting to be secret-camera footage shot in one of the hotel's rooms.

The murky black-and-white video clips posted on blogs and linked to on the social networking site Thursday, and showed an obscured view of an amorous couple in what appears to be a hotel room. The Sedona Hotel was named online as the venue for the scene.

The video has been widely shared and reported in local media, with concerns raised that the privacy of guests at the hotel may have been breached.

A staff member at the front office of the hotel—a luxury complex near Rangoon's Inya lake—said Friday that the hotel's management was looking into whether the clip was filmed in one of the Sedona's rooms.

"We're now internally investigating in the hotel whether those files are from here or not. We will hold a press conference for the public to know as soon as possible," said the staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to speak with reporters.

An urgent meeting was held in the hotel on Thursday, she said, adding that business was going on as usual within the Sedona, a five-star hotel owned by Singapore-based Kepple Land.

"What I can say is we're checking now," the staff member said.

In a news report on the videos, the Burmese-language newspaper Eleven Weekly quoted a security guard at the hotel denying rumors that the video clips, taken from large file posted online, were discovered on the hotel's own website by hackers.

The security guard said it was possible a secret camera may have been installed in one of the Sedona's rooms, but he said the hotel's staff had not placed it there, according to the report.

Soe Thura, a public relations officer with an advertising company in Rangoon, suggested the video may have been faked in an attempt to smear the hotel.

"I checked some websites that I heard such video files are already posted on. All of them are fake," he said. "It's unlikely it happened inside the hotel."

The video sparked speculation about who was featured in the clips. In the past, Burmese film and music stars have appeared in sex tapes posted online.

But regular Facebook user Ko Thura said he was unable to watch it.

"It's a big file, I can't even download it because I heard it is 10 hours of video clips, and involves some famous people in the country," he said.

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