Mizzima News

Rangoon – The military junta has directed the 'Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry' to probe the future trade scandal of big wholesale traders, which is currently being investigated by the 'Bureau of Special Investigation'.

The heavyweight future traders could not settle their accounts with their trading partners early this month when the price of pulses and beans nose dived. Now the UMFCCI has been assigned to take over 40 cases of this scandal through its trade disputes mediation mechanism.

"They are assigned to resolve these trade disputes and trade scandal through mediation," an official from UMFCCI said in condition of anonymity. He declined to elaborate.  

Though UMFCCI usually intervenes in such trade disputes among traders through mediation, the sellers of pulses and beans register cases with the BSI. The BSI is investigating three members of the 'Bayintnaung' Trading House.

In future trading, the traders could not settle their accounts with their trading partners when the price of pulses and beans dropped sharply and the price difference widened. And as a result the scam occurred. Now the mediators are checking their papers, accounts and books.

In the current pulses and beans market, only a few transactions are taking place and most of the traders are in a wait-and-see mode.

The major purchaser of Burmese pulses and beans, India, is currently buying the produce from Canada but a member of UMFCCI CEC said that India assured Burma it would buy a lot of Burmese pulses and beans in the third week of this month. But the traders in Rangoon said that this news could not be verified by them.

"The future traders didn't make proper sale deeds and business agreements though the amount of their transactions ran into hundreds of millions of Kyats. They just signed on ordinary paper attested on small denomination revenue stamps. These papers are not admissible in courts as documents. The sale deeds must be made in accordance with the Contract Act to be admissible in courts as exhibits," a bean trader said.

"We expect the bean market will normalise in December and January. But most of us cannot hold our goods for a long time on this scale of investment. The departments concerned should intervene in the market by fixing a reasonable price for the time being which can boost trading in the market. So it will cushion the current market crash and sales slump for the sake of both producers and traders. It is terrible to see the government doing nothing for us," he added.