Local sources report that in Thandaunggyi, Shan State, Deputy Township Administrator Zin Min Oo and other officials are accepting bribes for allowing illegal construction on farmland and permitting unlicensed KTV establishments to operate. Notably, City Night KTV (5) has been constructed on agricultural land and operates without proper licensing, while local police are running massage services for profit in the area.
City Night KTV (5), located in Ward 9 of Thandaunggyi, began operations on May 22. Deputy Township Administrator Zin Min Oo, in collaboration with District Administration Office Chief Clerk Aung Min Htun, has been involved in selling parcels of farmland and granting permits for KTV operations without proper licensing requirements. The establishment reportedly paid 30 million kyats to Chief Clerk Aung Min Htun for alcohol and beer licenses.
Despite public complaints about noise levels from bars in Thandaunggyi, authorities have taken no action. Bar owners are required to pay monthly fees of 700,000 kyats to the General Administration Office, 600,000 kyats to local police, and 1.1 million kyats to the military. Additionally, local police have established massage parlors behind Thandaunggyi Bar in Ward 5, where they are reportedly involved in drug trafficking operations.
Municipal staff in Thandaunggyi are also accepting bribes for construction permits for high-rise buildings without submitting applications to state-level authorities. They demand hundreds of millions of kyats for housing construction permits on farmland, and for land grant applications, claiming state-level submission requirements, they charge between 50 and 88 million kyats, with prime locations costing hundreds of millions of kyats, according to local residents.
