This Canadian family fuelled Myanmar’s civil war with ‘blood pearls’

A company with Canadian directors has operated a lucrative pearl farm in Myanmar together with a state-owned enterprise that has direct ties to the country's murderous military regime, according to corporate and government records obtained by CBC News.

The company, Belpearl, operates through a network of related entities registered in Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Myanmar. One of those entities, Belpearl Myanmar, operates a pearl farm with two adjacent locations in the country.

Myanmar pearls, particularly the renowned South Sea golden pearls from the Mergui Archipelago, are among the most sought after in the world for their intense, natural deep-gold colour and large size. 

"There's probably a lot of consumers that don't even know that Burma has a military government, that don't even know it's in the civil war, and maybe if they knew that, they would look at things differently," said Eric Braunwart, founder of Columbia Gem House, a Vancouver, Wash., firm that responsibly sources gems.

The regime in Myanmar — formally known as Burma — has waged a civil war since 2021 and the United Nations has accused it of committing "brutal atrocities" and killing thousands of civilians.

Following the 2021 coup, Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and other Western governments placed sanctions on Myanmar as part of efforts to restrict revenue flowing to the junta. The RCMP was asked almost two years ago to investigate the Belpearl arrangement as a violation of those sanctions.

"There is absolutely a case to be made to call them 'blood pearls,'" said William Pellerin, of McMillan LLP, which represents the NGO Justice for Myanmar. 

"I think the government of Canada has an obligation to uphold the law, and we pass these laws specifically because it's in our international interests to make sure that the military junta in Myanmar is not funded and continuing to commit the atrocities that they've been committing."

Corporate records provided by Justice for Myanmar (JFM) show that, until recently, Belpearl Myanmar listed two Canadians — Marie Hajjar and Pierre Hajjar — as directors. The records also show that members of the same family — Michael Hajjar and Sarkis Hajjar — appeared as directors or shareholders across multiple Belpearl entities operating in Asia and Canada.

None of the Hajjars responded to repeated requests for comment.

After CBC News began seeking comment in early January, a company spokesman said both Marie and Pierre Hajjar had "recently" removed themselves as directors of Belpearl Myanmar due to the "mounting crisis."

In a statement, the company said the Hajjars began the process to divest their shares in 2023, though updated corporate registration documents reflecting those changes for the Singapore firm — which is a majority shareholder in Belpearl Myanmar — weren't filed until Jan. 16, 2026, more than a week after CBC contacted the company.

In response to CBC's queries, Belpearl Myanmar said "our former Canadian shareholders were in compliance with Canadian sanctions law." 

Documents obtained by CBC News show Belpearl Myanmar has operated under a production-sharing agreement with the Myanmar Pearl Enterprise (MPE), a state-owned body that since the coup has fallen under the authority of Myanmar's military-controlled government.