Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial on Monday in a new corruption case against her, in which she is accused of taking $550,000 in bribes from construction magnate Maung Weik.
The ousted Myanmar leader is charged with two counts under the country’s Anti-Corruption Act, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine.
Suu Kyi has been detained since the army ousted her elected government in February 2021 and has not been seen or allowed to speak in public since then.
She has already been sentenced to 11 years in jail after being convicted of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, breaching coronavirus restrictions, sedition and another corruption charge.
The beginning of Suu Kyi’s trial on Monday was confirmed by a legal official.
In this case, Suu Kyi is accused of receiving money in 2019 and 2020 from Maung Weik, who was previously convicted of drug trafficking.
Ye Htet, an official from the Anti-Corruption Commission who is a plaintiff in the case, gave evidence in the proceedings, the legal official said.
He said payments Maung Weik made in 2019 and 2020 were being treated as separate counts.
Maung Weik told state media last year that he gave the money from 2018 to 2020.
He said he gave $100,000 to Suu Kyi in 2018 for a charitable foundation named after her mother and that Suu Kyi was paid $450,000 from 2019 to 2020 for purposes he did not specify.
Under Suu Kyi’s government, Maung Weik won a major development project that included the construction of houses, restaurants, hospitals, economic zones, a port and hotel zones in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region.
Maung Weik, as chairman of a property development company, was close to some of the generals in power during a previous military government.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2008 for drug trafficking and was released in 2014 under a semi-democratic transitional government led by former generals. After his release, he returned to doing business with former military officials.
So far, Suu Kyi has been charged with 12 counts of corruption.
She was convicted last week on one corruption charge and given a five-year prison sentence for receiving $600,000 and seven gold bars from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of Yangon.
She has been, and continues to be, tried in closed sessions and her lawyers cannot speak publicly on her behalf or about her trial because of a gag order placed on them.
Her lawyers are trying to overturn the verdict in an appeal to the Supreme Court on technical grounds, saying the case should not have been heard. If that is rejected, they can still make another appeal.
Suu Kyi’s supporters have said the cases against her are an attempt to discredit her and legitimise the military’s seizure of power, thereby eliminating the possibility of her taking part in a possible 2023 election.
