Former Regional MP and Lawyer Dr. Nyo Nyo Thin lodged a complaint about the five evident points that show the loss of public funds described in the audit report submitted by the Yangon Region Auditor General, to the Anti-Corruption Commission on the evening of October 12.

“Last night, I send my complaint letter via e-mail. I also sent my complaint letter to the commission via the post office. The commission will receive my letter on Monday. My complaint has nothing to do with the person and the government. I lodged a complaint about the five evident facts that reflect the loss of public funds described in the audit report,” said Dr. Nyo Nyo Thin who is also head of Yangon Watch.

Kyaw Soe, a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission said: “I don’t know whether the commission receives her complaint or not as today is holiday. We will check our e-mail only on the working day.”

In her letter, she lodges a complaint about the loss of State funds in the audit report for 2016-2017 fiscal year in order that the anti-corruption commission can make an investigation into it. This is the most interesting news among political observers and media.

The letter said the loss of public funds is linked to the breach of laws relating to corruption by authorized persons. The corruption is defined that the acts done by anyone who have the authority to manage the public funds may cause a loss of public funds after a breach of existing laws, procedures and rules.  One of the huge losses spotlighted in the report is the handovers of thousand acres of lands to some famous businesspersons under the pretext of the projects, including the sale of 21 land blocks measuring 40 ft X 60 ft only to a person in 2015-2016 fiscal year, at the reduced rates. There was a revenue loss of at least Ks41.97 billion as the region government was unable to collect service charges for land permit with the new rates.

Take a look at the life of the people, most of public hospitals (including station hospitals) have no access to electricity round the clock. There are the unbalanced ratio between patients and doctors, a shortage of beds and spaces for doctors, nurses and patients’ families in some hospitals, the deaths of many patients due to a shortfall of medicines and machines for blood test, heart, kidney and cancer patients. Nearly 42-billion losses can save the life of thousands of people.

Another loss is the land in the People’s Park in the west of Shwedagon Pagoda is leased out to the private company at the reduced rate lower than the current value. It is a loss of Ks one billion in public funds monthly. We can feed more than 16,600 underprivileged people in Yangon with the Ks-1,000 meal, using this fund. Another fund loss is a project on 45th Street in Botahtaung Township in Yangon. This project has resulted in a loss of Ks9.2billion.

In addition, there is an annual loss of Ks3.8 billion for 15-acre leased land in Bahan Township. Kandawgyi, Kantawmin and Myainghaywon Parks make a loss of Ks2 billion annually. This fund can be used to develop about 2,500 10-million low-cost apartments for the ordinary people in Yangon where see the mass migration and skyrocketing house rentals, during the remaining tenure of government. The common point is the consecutive huge losses occurred as an authority person or an organization gave advantage to a person or private companies after a breach of existing laws, the letter said.

The worrying thing among political observers is whether or not the Anti-Corruption Commission will deem the facts described in the Yangon Region Auditor General’s report, to be the notorious one. According to the law, the notorious news is defined that the commission believes that anyone has valid evidence of corruption in the news spreading among the public. It is evident that it is notorious as the report itself is valid evidence. In addition, I lodge this complaint about fund losses on behalf of the public as it is linked to the definition of the corruption described in Section 3 (a), para (ii) of the Anti-Corruption Law, it added.

Yangon Region Auditor-General’s report on the region government was submitted in the session of the region parliament this month. More than 20 MPs discussed the audit report.