Wei Hseuh-kang's Hong Pang Group is the biggest enterprise in the Wa State, with numerous business interests throughout Burma. These include a cement factory, liquor distilleries, petrol stations, department stores, road building, construction, agricultural ventures, electronics, jewelry and gem business, communications, textiles and many others. The company also has thousands of acres of fruit orchards and owns coal and jade mines.
The story began in the late 1980s when Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the Burmese military intelligence chief at that time, negotiated ceasefire agreements with a number of non-Burmese armed ethnic groups. He offered them many privileges, such as the right to administer their own regions, and granted them business concessions in return for ending their armed struggle against the government.
With plenty of money on hand from the drug business, Wei and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) took the opportunity and set up the Hong Pang Group in 1998.
When General Khin Nyunt became Burmese Prime Minister on August 25, 2003, Wei gained the kind of ally he could never have dreamed of. Wei, having become a close friend of the PM, was on top of the game. He was untouchable.
Khin Nyunt appeared often on local media inaugurating or visiting various Hong Pang Group projects throughout Burma until he was abruptly dismissed on October 18, 2004 and arrested soon after. However, the purge of his friend didn't obviously hurt Wei or his company, which is today an enormous conglomerate and wields a lot of power.
The Group has offices throughout Burma , including in Rangoon, Mandalay, Lashio, Tachilek and Moulmein. The head office is located at Wan Kaung near Pang Sang.
When a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, New York on January 24, 2005 indicted eight UWSA members, including Wei Hseuh-kang, the indictment also sought forfeiture of directly traceable assets of the defendants, including all assets of the Hong Pang Group holding company and affiliated businesses operating in Burma, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and other countries. These businesses, which are connected to the defendants' drug trafficking activities, are managed, operated, financed and controlled by the defendants.
Yet the Hong Pang Group continues to thrive. The company's new offices are currently under construction near Nar Lod. The complex, described as palatial, was due to be completed at the end of 2007, but was delayed after Wei abruptly decided to add a large underground home. Sources say it should be finished some time this year.
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