Missing gold is not a mystery, official says

Missing gold is not a mystery, official says

Published on Friday, 22 August 2014 20:00

An official from Ministry of Mines has confirmed that Myanmar National Prosperity and Development Company still owes the state gold, rebutting a claim by company chairperson Soe Htun Shein that it did not.

The company was one of three that a July 15 report from the Union Auditor General's Office said owed gold to the state. The other two identified in the report are Shwemoeyan Company and Asia Gabar Myay. The Auditor General's report was based on audits by Parliament's public account committee. 

The gold is owed according to production sharing contracts signed between the companies and the Ministry of Mines.

The three companies owed the state 1,000 viss (about 16,400 kilograms) of gold as of January 31 this year. They repaid more than 46 viss by March 17, leaving them with an outstanding debt of about 950 viss (1,561kg), according to the report. Its value on the international market is about US$38.95 million as of today. (Viss is a Myanmar standard for measuring gold, with one viss equivalent to 100 ticals or about 1.63kg.)

Daily Eleven reported on the missing gold on July 30.

Soe Htun Shein denied the report, telling the August 5 edition of Tomorrow journal: "I owe no gold debt to the state." He invited anyone to investigate his company for gold owed to the state, urged the Public Account Committee to double check its report and said media should only report news based on solid facts.

An official at the Ministry of Mines, however, suggested that Soe Htun Shein should double check his records. He said three of the five gold mines in the mining area in Moeti Moemi Province of Mandalay's Yamaethin Township still owed gold to the state, and that one of these was Myanmar National Prosperity and Development Company.

Inspections of the mines would prove that gold was owed to the state, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Several protests have occurred as many of the miners who were displaced to make way for Soe Htun Shein's company are now his employees, with production sharing agreements with his company.

The most high-file conflict occurred on December 18, 2013 when four demonstrators were jailed for eight months. 

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/missing-gold-is-not-a-mystery-official-says/