The “Anti-Online Scam Bill” was passed after MPs approved changes to a draft bill at a combined meeting of the lower and upper houses on Tuesday morning in the capital Naypyidaw, Union Parliament Speaker Aung Lin Dwe said during a live television broadcast.
Lower house MP Aye Chan confirmed that the death sentence remained in the approved version of the law.
“There were not many significant changes to the proposed draft bill after discussions between the lower house and upper house. The important parts of the bill remained the same,” Aye Chan said.
Draft legislation published in May said the law included sentences of 10 years to life in prison, as well as capital punishment, for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams”.
If committing such an offence caused death, “the death penalty shall be imposed”, it said.
The draft bill also featured a maximum sentence of life in prison for those who “run an online scam centre” and those who “commit digital currency scams”.
Internet fraud factories have flourished in war-torn Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s thriving scam economy, targeting web users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons.
The multibillion-dollar black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured by scam centre operators.
The anti-scam law is the first legislation passed by Myanmar’s new government, headed by former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Myanmar’s civil conflict has seeded instability, creating fertile ground for organised crime groups running transnational scam operations to set up shop in fortified compounds, according to monitors. (AFP)
