The Canadian-linked Belpearl network is using a Thai intermediary company to supply pearl nuclei from Hong Kong and Japan to its Myanmar pearl farm, sustaining a business that helps finance the junta’s ongoing campaign of terror against the people. A pearl nucleus is a core component of pearl cultivation, used as a starter that is inserted into an oyster to form the pearls that generate millions of dollars for Myanma Pearl Enterprise (MPE). According to a document from the junta’s natural resource ministry, pearl nuclei need to be imported from overseas in a timely manner for farms to operate.

Belpearl Myanmar Co. Ltd. operates its pearl farming business in Shwe Island and Zadet Nge Island, off the southern Tanintharyi coast of Myanmar, under a production sharing contract with the state-owned MPE, illegally seized by the junta in the 2021 attempted coup. Under the arrangement, extended in 2024 by Belpearl’s Canadian owners, MPE receives 25% of production, which it sells in Naypyidaw emporiums often attended by war criminal and junta head Min Aung Hlaing.

In 2023, after sanctions were imposed on MPE by the USA, UK and Canada, Belpearl’s owners created a new subsidiary in Thailand, BP Farms (Thailand) Company Limited, that Belpearl has used as a procurement and payment intermediary to purchase pearl nuclei for direct shipment to Myanmar.

According to sale contracts dated 24 October 2025 for pearl nuclei that were submitted to the junta's commerce ministry, BP Farms purchases pearl nuclei from Belpearl (Hong Kong) Limited and Belpearl Japan, with the goods consigned directly to Belpearl Myanmar in Yangon. The contracts, which require import licences from the military junta, list a Siam Commercial Bank account held by BP Farms, a Minato Bank account held by Belpearl Japan and a Standard Chartered account held by Belpearl (Hong Kong).

BP Farms is owned by a Singapore company, Belpearl (S) Pte. Ltd, which holds 30,000 ordinary shares, and a Thai company, Synergy Solutions BKK, which holds 32,000 preference shares.

Belpearl (S), which also owns Belpearl Myanmar, was owned by Marie Rose Jarmakli Hajjar and Michael Pierre Hajjar, both Canadian citizens, who also served as directors alongside Sarkis Hajjar, another Canadian citizen who was the founding director and shareholder of BP Farms. In January 2026, the Hajjars transferred Belpearl (S) to Georges Christian Jarmakli, a French citizen, and Nejteh Movses Demirian, an Australian citizen. These changes exploited sanctions loopholes created by the EU and Australia that have thus far failed to sanction MPE.

Nejteh Movses Demirian is the director of BP Farms.

The other shareholder of BP Farms, Synergy Solutions BKK, appears to be a nominee company set up to bypass Thai restrictions on foreign ownership of private companies and which Justice For Myanmar has submitted to Thai authorities for investigation. Synergy Solutions BKK shares BP Farms’ registered address at Room 11-01, 246 Times Square Building and was incorporated months before an August 2024 capital increase in which it became a shareholder of BP Farms. Synergy Solutions BKK’s primary shareholder, Piyawadee Ponnun, holds a 9,999-to-1 stake over a second shareholder, Yasmidgore Srikureja, both Thai citizens.

Belpearl also operates an auction business in Hong Kong that brings Myanmar pearls to international markets that continue to be owned by members of the Hajjar family, who also directly own Belpearl Japan.

Due to the close links between the current and former owners of Belpearl Myanmar, Justice For Myanmar believes there is a high risk that members of the Hajjar family could continue to direct Belpearl (S) and its Myanmar and Thai subsidiaries by proxy.

By allowing companies to transact with Belpearl Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong are undermining sanctions on MPE and enabling an industry that finances the junta’s international crimes. The junta and its business associates must be blocked from doing business in the region and from using regional banks.

Justice For Myanmar continues to call for accountability of the owners of Belpearl, including through a submission to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP) filed in 2024. We urge RCMP to swiftly investigate and take action against Belpearl and its owners for doing business with MPE.

The USA, UK, EU, Canada and Australia should coordinate and close sanctions loopholes, including through the urgent sanctioning of MPE by the EU and Australia.