Justice For Myanmar (JFM) has called on the Canadian government to urgently investigate and prosecute four Canadian nationals suspected of maintaining illegal business ties with Myanmar’s state-owned pearl enterprise, a sanctioned entity accused of funding military atrocities.
The advocacy group revealed that in April 2024, a team of prominent Canadian sanctions lawyers submitted evidence to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The documents, which include leaked internal files and company registration data, allegedly show that four individuals—Pierre Hajjar, Marie Rose Jarmakli Hajjar, Sarkis Hajjar, and Michael Pierre Hajjar—have violated Canadian sanctions law.
The individuals are identified as members of the family behind the Belpearl group, a network of companies involved in the farming, processing, and trading of pearls.
“The Hajjar family and Belpearl have been doing business with a sanctioned junta entity for over four years,” said Yadanar Maung, a spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar. “By doing so, they are helping to fund an illegal military junta that is murdering children, bombing schools and hospitals, and destroying entire communities”.
Belpearl Myanmar Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Singapore-based Belpearl (S) Pte Ltd., operates a pearl farm on Russel Island (Shwe Kyun) off the coast of Tanintharyi Region. The project operates under a production-sharing contract with the Myanma Pearl Enterprise (MPE), a state-owned business seized by the military during the February 2021 coup. Under this arrangement, Belpearl is required to provide a share of its production to the MPE, which the junta then sells at regular auctions in Naypyidaw—events frequently attended by junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
While Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States have all sanctioned the Myanma Pearl Enterprise, JFM notes that the European Union and Australia have yet to do so.
The group alleges that the Hajjar family has attempted to exploit these legal gaps. In 2024 and 2025, ownership interests in Belpearl Myanmar were reportedly transferred to a French national, Georges Christian Jarmakli, and an Australian national, Nejteh Movses Demirian, respectively.
Despite these transfers, JFM insists that the prior actions of the Canadian nationals constitute a blatant disregard for Canadian law. “We call on Canadian authorities to fully investigate all instances of sanctions violations involving Belpearl and its owners and to take decisive legal action,” Yadanar Maung added.
Since the 2021 coup, international rights groups have intensified their efforts to cut off the military junta’s access to foreign currency, targeting industries such as gemstones, timber, and pearls that provide critical revenue for the regime’s ongoing military campaigns.
