The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) borrowed 100m kyat ($75k) from a nationalist-linked gold mining company just weeks before officials launched an investigation into the firm for failing to hand over bullion that it owed to the government.
The December 2016 agreement raises questions about the broadcaster’s coverage of scandals surrounding the National Prosperity Company (NPC) and its chairman Soe Htun Shein, who was arrested Wednesday on charges of mining without a permit.
Executives at DVB say the loan did not affect their ability to report on the company impartially, and that a former head of advertising made the decision to take the money without informing his superiors.
“If we had known the money was to be borrowed from Soe Htun Shein, we would have stopped it,” Aye Chan Naing, DVB’s executive director and chief editor, told Myanmar Now. “But the loan was…
