The deal delivered millions to an in-law of the former president, Bounnhang Vorachit, while blocking tobacco tax hikes for 25 years.

How Imperial Brands’ confidential contract kept cigarette prices low in Laos — while secretly 

Smoking for the state

Cigarettes are sold at a store in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. A confidential long-term agreement between the Laotian government and tobacco giant Imperial Brands has kept cigarettes cheap.

Big tobacco 

Big Tobacco 

How Imperial Brands’ confidential contract kept cigarette prices low in Laos — while secretly enriching a political insider

Mailee Osten-Tan is a Malaysian-German and British multimedia journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. Her visual work and reporting has been featured in The Guardian, CNN, The Telegraph, Der Spiegel, VICE, and elsewhere.

Mailee Osten-Tan

Mailee Osten-Tan is a multimedia journalist based in Bangkok.

Fearless journalism
for a healthier world

Mailee Osten-Tan

Latest

How Imperial Brands’ confidential contract kept cigarette prices low in Laos — while secretly enriching a political insider

Fearless journalismfor a healthier world

Mailee Osten-Tan

Latest

How Imperial Brands’ confidential contract kept cigarette prices low in Laos — while secretly enriching a political insider

Fearless journalism
for a healthier world