Sanctioned Myanmar Tycoons Find Shelter in Singapore
Tay Za, once dubbed the junta’s ‘No. 1 crony businessman,’ enjoys the good life on Sentosa Island. Those days may be coming to an end.
Sentosa Cove in Singapore, where Tay Za owns a villa.
Photographer: Darren Soh/Bloomberg
Frangipani plants and coconut trees front the three-story villa on Sentosa Island where Myanmar tycoon Tay Za stays when he’s in Singapore. It’s one of two houses his family owns in a development overlooking the South China Sea known as a playground for the wealthy. A short drive away is the Marina Bay Sands casino, where he would often show up carrying a duffel bag stuffed with cash. On a sunny day in June, a yellow Ferrari F8 Spider and a Mercedes were parked outside one of the villas.
Singapore has long been a haven for sanctioned Myanmar businessmen, including Tay Za, who has been accused by the US and others of supplying arms and equipment to the military. He has maintained the right to live and work in Singapore despite sanctions first imposed by the US in 2007 and has incorporated about 10 companies there with operations in palm oil, teak and aviation. The US sanctions against him and other supporters of the regime were lifted in 2016 after democratic elections in Myanmar, then reinstated earlier this year following a February 2021 coup that forcibly removed Aung San Suu Kyi from leadership.