Investors who say their hospital was unlawfully confiscated by Mandalay city authorities are planning to launch a legal appeal to recover it.
Last October, Mandalay City Development Committee seized Taw Win Hnin Si Hospital, also known as Royal Rose, in Chan Aye Tharzan township, saying its operators had persisted in breaching city regulations despite official warnings.
The allegations against the company concerned, City Man, included the distribution of pornographic materials.
The company sought help from the Myanmar Investment Commission to recover the land and the building, claiming MCDC had breached the terms and conditions of its 30-year lease agreement. MIC responded by encouraging both sides to negotiate.
However, no such discussions have taken place, according to the company, which said on February 29 it would take legal action to resume operations and seek redress over assaults to its dignity.
“We invested a lot of money in the hospital staff and machinery, and have incurred losses. We will follow every legal avenue available to us in our appeal. Our civil case against MCDC is now being prepared,” said City Man consultant U Tin Maung Ong.
He said MCDC had confiscated the property against MIC’s advice, adding that under Myanmar law, businesses running with permission cannot be confiscated. The regional government deliberately ignored a directive from the Union government, confiscating the property without permission, he said.
“According to Myanmar Investment Law, authorised economic enterprises may not be confiscated. This confiscation by regional-level officials has overridden Union law.”
A senior MCDC official said the agreement only allowed the company to build Chan Aye Mandala housing and a plaza. “They added two floors to the building to operate a hospital, which was not in the agreement, so we sent them three letters asking them to hand over the property. They did not respond, so we confiscated the land and the building,” he said.
The 12-acre site, leased to MCDC by Myanma Railways, was on-leased to City Man to build a hotel, a plaza, an office building, a pharmacy and a condominium under a joint-venture contract dated May 29, 1996.
Taw Win Hnin Si Hospital was closed by the Myanmar Medical Council during a lawsuit involving allegedly illegal treatment being provided to citizens of China, and the distribution of pornographic pamphlets.
Any court case arising from this situation would likely bear upon three laws. Mandalay municipal statutes, enacted by the regional hluttaw in January 2015 allow the city to terminate a contract in the event that the tenant breaks a rule of the contract.
The 2013 investment law guarantees that a commercial entity operating under its permission shall not be confiscated, nor an investment terminated before the due date without good reason, and the constitution protects the property of citizens that has been lawfully acquired.
Translation by San Lay and Kyawt Darly Lin
Quoted from mmtimes.
