YANGON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Lae Lae Maw has been relieved of her duty on Monday, according to an order of the President's Office.
The removal of Lae Lae Maw followed her arrest on charge of corruption on Sunday along with three local company officials.
The arrest came after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) carried out an investigation into cases against the female chief minister for about a month.
Lae Lae Maw is the first chief minister to be charged with corruption since the incumbent government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), took power in 2016.
According to ACC's findings, Lae Lae Maw abused her power in granting a number of projects to local company F-22 Sunny Construction, including a costly mowing contract near Dawei Airport worth 400 million kyats (266,666 U.S. dollars) without undergoing any tender process in 2016.
She was also found to allocate 1.9 billion kyats of the regional government funds to the Construction Ministry's Road Management Department, contradictory to the budgetary management rules set by government, to build fences for two compounds she owned in Dawei, the capital of Tanintharyi region.
The investigation also discovered that Lae Lae Maw sold her two-storey house to a local company, Global Grand Services (GGS), at a much higher price in exchange for granting the company permission for construction projects.
The finding also said Lae Lae Maw favored GGS in granting a joint venture contract for electricity generation between the company and the regional government.
The chief minister was charged under Article 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law.
Three other officials from GGS Company were also arrested for involvement in the cases.
Myanmar signed the UN Convention against Corruption in December 2012 and its Anti-Corruption Law took effect in September 2013.
