This 12 month investigation reveals it is worth far more than previously thought - up to US$31 billion in 2014 alone. That is equivalent to nearly half the GDP of the whole country, which badly needs it. But hardly any of the money is reaching ordinary people or state coffers.
Instead, the trade is controlled by the military elites, US sanctioned drug lords and crony companies that the country's rebranded government says it is consigning to the past. These networks cream off vast profits while local people suffer terrible abuses and see their natural inheritance ripped out from beneath their feet. These injustices are stoking unrest in an already unstable and volatile region.
As an historic election approaches, it is hard to overstate the significance of these findings to Myanmar’s future. Our investigations show that the elites who between them have most to lose from an open and fair future also have access to a vast slush fund in the shape of the jade sector. This raises real questions for the government of Myanmar and its international partners, especially the US.
Jade is the Myanmar government's big state secret
Jade businessman, Kachin State
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