\n Norwegian authorities said on Tuesday they had carried out a search at the headquarters of Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor, which is suspected of complicity in crimes against humanity in Myanmar.\n<\/p>\n
\n Customers of the group's former Myanmar subsidiary, Telenor Myanmar (TML), sued the operator earlier this year for sharing their sensitive personal data with the Asian country's ruling junta.\n<\/p>\n
\n They argued that the information was used to identify, arrest and prosecute pro-democracy activists suspected of opposing Myanmar's military.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norway's National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) and the interior security service, PST, had launched separate investigations into Telenor, police said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kripos was investigating Telenor over suspicions of complicity in crimes against humanity between February 1, 2021, and March 25, 2022, they said.\n<\/p>\n
\n That period runs from the day of the military coup in Myanmar against Aung San Suu Kyi's government to the date at which Telenor sold the subsidiary.\n<\/p>\n
\n PST was meanwhile investigating a possible sanctions violation because the sale of TML included surveillance equipment subject to authorisation.\n<\/p>\n
\n Telenor, in which the Norwegian state has a 54-percent stake, issued a press release saying the company was \"cooperating closely with the investigators\" and would \"do everything in its power to assist in clarifying the case to the fullest extent possible\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Activist group Justice for Myanmar, which filed a complaint against Telenor in Norway in December 2024, welcomed the decision to \"finally\" open investigations into the operator.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Telenor's transfer of spyware to a military-linked company and sharing of sensitive data with the military junta was extensively documented,\" spokesperson Yadanar Maung said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We hope this will finally lead to accountability for the harms Telenor has caused Myanmar people through its conduct and its dangerous divestment.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Telenor Myanmar began operations in 2014 and had more than 18 million customers by 2021.\n<\/p>\n
\n In July 2021, Telenor announced plans to sell its Myanmar subsidiary, later citing junta demands that it install monitoring equipment on the network as a reason for leaving the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n The announcement alarmed activists, who were concerned the transaction meant all customer data and surveillance technology that had been installed would be turned over to a military-linked company.\n<\/p>\n
\n TML was sold to Lebanese conglomerate M1 Group, which was approved by the junta on condition that it partner with local consortium Shwe Byain Phyu.\n<\/p>\n
\n phy\/nzg\/jll\/gil\n<\/p>\n
\n TELENOR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norwegian authorities said on Tuesday they had carried out a search at the headquarters of Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor, which is suspected of complicity in crimes against humanity in Myanmar. Customers of the group's former Myanmar subsidiary, Telenor Myanmar (TML), sued the operator earlier this year for sharing their sensitive personal data with the Asian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-165219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n