5/22/22, 4:28 PM Telenor sale to military-linked consortium to be complete in mid-February | Myanmar NOW operator Mytel. Thein Win Zaw, founder and chair of the Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies (FRW Research) His wife, Tin Latt Min, sits on the group’s management board as a managing director. She is also a shareholder of the Forest Product Joint Venture Corporation, which has been sanctioned by the European Union. Thein Win Zaw and his family also hold 7 percent of the stakes in the Global Treasure Bank, out of nearly 1,000 shareholders. He has a strong relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation and was granted multiple project contracts during the ministry’s push towards privatisation during ex-President Thein Sein’s administration. Civil society pressure At a time when civil society groups have been urging the Norwegian government and Telenor Group to carry out a responsible and ethical exit from Myanmar, the junta’s approval of the sale to the partnership between M1 and the military-linked Shwe Byain Phyu is likely to attract even further criticism concerning Telenor’s departure. Advocacy group Justice For Myanmar’s (JFM) spokesperson Yadanar Maung said that Telenor’s sale amounts to a serious violation of the privacy rights of millions of people in the country and will put lives at risk. She called on the Norwegian government to “urgently intervene” in the sales process to prevent “grave human rights violations.” “Telenor must explain to the people of Myanmar who the beneficial owners of this deal are and ensure that the personal data of 18 million people is not handed to the terrorist Myanmar military junta,” she told Myanmar Now on Friday. https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/telenor-sale-to-military-linked-consortium-to-be-complete-in-mid-february 6/18