Myanmar junta chief urged to buy Man Utd: cable

The grandson of Myanmar’s junta chief wanted the military regime to make a one billion dollar bid to buy football giants Manchester United, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks revealed.

Unsure how the move would be received, Senior General Than Shwe — said to be a keen fan of the Red Devils — instead set up a national football league, reported the cable from Yangon to Washington dated June 2009.

“One well-connected source reports that the grandson wanted Than Shwe to offer one billion (dollars) for Manchester United,” said the cable released by the whistle-blowing website.

“The Senior General thought that sort of expenditure could look bad, so he opted to create for Burma a league of its own,” it added, using Myanmar’s former name.

In January 2009, Than Shwe ordered regime cronies and businessmen to be the owners of the new professional soccer teams, with incentives offered such as gem and jade mines, according to sources cited in the cable.

“It is unclear if there is any political motivation behind the MNL (Myanmar National Football League), although many Burmese businessmen speculate the regime is using it as a way to distract the populace from ongoing political and economic problems,” the memo said.

A follow-up cable noted that Than Shwe’s grandson is himself a footballer hired to play on the Delta United team owned by businessman Zaw Zaw, whose companies are subject to US sanctions.

Zaw Zaw, also chairman of the Myanmar Football Federation, was described as “one of several mid-level cronies actively attempting to curry favour with the regime and to use his government ties to expand his commercial enterprises”.

According to one embassy source kept anonymous by WikiLeaks, Zaw Zaw and Than Shwe’s grandson came up with the idea of a professional soccer league “but had to obtain the Senior General’s support first”.

Myanmar, military-ruled since 1962, held its first election in 20 years on November 7 but this was widely dismissed by Western countries as a sham to cloak ongoing military rule.

The reclusive Than Shwe, a 77-year-old former postman-turned-psychological warfare officer, did not run as a candidate in the poll but he could become president by parliamentary selection.