The regime Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) has blacklisted the Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Company — reportedly owned by Saw Chit Thu, leader of the pro-regime Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) — along with 196 other companies for “failing to deposit foreign currency earnings from exports.”

The CBM statement dated June 27 claimed that the companies failed to deposit their export earnings from 2016 to 2020 into their domestic bank accounts in foreign currency within a designated period which violates the 2012 Foreign Exchange Management Law. 

The law requires earnings from exports to Asian countries to be deposited within 30 days of shipment, while earnings from exports to other countries must be done within 60 days. Failure to do so may result in a prison sentence of up to one year, a fine or both.

The CBM also blacklisted Saw Chit Thu — who registered his company under the name San Myint — along with his three adult children and two associates who are in charge of the company, according to the statement. 

On May 5, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Saw Chit Thu and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, over alleged ties to online scam operations in Myawaddy Township of Karen State along the Myanmar-Thailand border.

The E.U. sanctioned Saw Chit Thu’s company for his alleged ties to cyber scam operations and human trafficking in October. Saw Chit Thu has denied all allegations against him. 

Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) sought arrest warrants for Saw Chit Thu and two other BGF leaders in February. Thai media reported that the case has not made any progress as the prosecutors deemed the evidence against him “insufficient.” 

The Karen BGF was established in 2010 with assistance from the military after it split from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), which itself split from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in 1994. 

It attempted to rebrand itself as the Karen National Army in March 2024 after announcing its decision to stop receiving support from the regime in Naypyidaw. 

But, when the KNLA took control of the sole remaining regime outpost in Myawaddy one month later, in April 2024, it took only 12 days for the BGF to abandon the KNLA and resume assistance to the military.

It allowed regime forces to retake control of the outpost, so lucrative border trade with Thailand could resume in Myawaddy, which is located 81 miles (130 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An and across the Moei (Thaungyin) River from Thailand’s Mae Sot, Tak Province.