Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said on Monday local time that the detention of an Australian adviser to Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi had led to the discovery of secret financial information, according to state-run MRTV television.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has called for the release of Sean Turnell, who was detained on 6 February following a coup that led to the arrest of Ms Suu Kyi herself.
"An attempt to flee the country by the former government's foreign economic adviser, Sean Turnell, was stopped in time and secret state financial information was found through him. Union-level ministers are taking legal actions in relation to that issue," MRTV quoted the junta leader as saying.
In a statement to SBS News, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it will "continue to call on Myanmar to immediately release Professor Turnell and allow him to return to his family in Australia".
"Professor Sean Turnell has worked as an economic adviser in Myanmar for many years, helping to support Myanmar’s economic growth," the statement said.
"He did so at the express invitation of the Myanmar Government and is highly respected for his work.
"Professor Turnell has been detained with limited consular access for over 30 days. We continue to consider this to be arbitrary detention.
"Myanmar has not provided Australia with confirmation of the reasons for the detention of Professor Turnell."
The Myanmar bureau chief of news agency Reuters, Poppy McPherson, called the reports of intelligence following Professor Turnell’s arrest “a really ominous development”.
Senator Payne late on Sunday night said and redirected aid to non-government organisations in response to escalating violence following the coup.
Amnesty International Australia welcomed the federal government's decision but is calling for more targeted sanctions against senior officials.
Senator Payne said on Monday said the government has only been able to contact Professor Turnell twice since his arrest.
"We do regard that as very limited consular support and we do seek more," she told ABC radio.
Last month, a petition signed by hundreds of academics calling for Professor Turnell’s release .
The petition described Professor Turnell as an academic with a “strong and genuine” commitment to Myanmar and exemplary ethics.
His wife, Ha Vu, described him in a Facebook post last month as a dedicated family man who was warm, kind-hearted and generous.
The United Nations says security forces have killed more than 50 people to stamp out daily demonstrations and strikes in the southeast Asian nation since the military overthrew and detained Ms Suu Kyi on 1 February.
Well over 1,700 people have been detained under the military junta.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city,
Additional reporting by Evan Young, AAP.
