Thailand Says No Evidence of Bank Deals Linked to Myanmar Arms

(Bloomberg) — Thai authorities said they 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 started immediate investigations and ordered financial institutions to review certain transactions following a June 2024 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

“The investigation found that some financial institutions did conduct transactions with individuals listed in the OHCHR report, but no evidence was found linking these transactions to arms procurement,” they said. 

The UN report, titled “Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar,” noted a five-fold increase in the Myanmar military junta’s airstrikes on civilian targets as it was losing outposts, territory and troops to resistance forces. 

The report argued that the State Administration Council — the junta — is relying on two primary resources from abroad: weapons and money.

“Thailand became the SAC’s leading source of military supplies purchased through the international banking system,” the report claimed. “The transfer of weapons and related materials from companies registered in Thailand doubled from over $60m in FY2022 to over $120m in FY2023.”

The BOT and AMLO report acknowledged there are areas where improvement is needed. 

“It was noted that each of the financial institutions had varying levels of rigor in their operations,” and that there’s a need to “elevate” certain counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering practices, the BOT and AMLO report said.

The UN report said it “found no evidence that the government of Thailand was involved in, nor aware of, these transfers.”

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