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Singapore
resident targeted in US Myanmar sanctions
AFP
08 Feb
08
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A
Singapore resident is among those targeted under new U.S.
sanctions aimed at an alleged "henchman" and arms
dealer for the Myanmar junta.
U Kyaw Thein, 60, was named
Tuesday as the U.S. imposed sanctions against individuals and
businesses linked to Tay Za, citing continuing human rights
violations and political repression by the Myanmar regime.
A
Singaporean company, Pavo Aircraft Leasing Pte Ltd., was also
named.
"We are tightening financial sanctions against
Tay Za, an arms dealer and financial henchman of Burma's
repressive junta," said Adam Szubin, director of the
Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control.
An OFAC notice identifies U Kyaw Thein as a
citizen of Burma who is a permanent resident of Singapore, with
an identity card issued in 2005.
A resident of U Kyaw
Thein's Singapore apartment told AFP by phone Thursday that he
had gone overseas and could not be reached.
"He's
gone for some trip," said the man, who would not give his
name.
Pavo Aircraft Leasing is the latest Singapore firm
to be hit by the U.S. Sanctions.
After Myanmar's deadly
suppression of Buddhist-led protests in September, President
George W. Bush named three firms with offices in Singapore as
among those targeted. They were Pavo Trading Pte Ltd, Air Bagan
Holdings Pte Ltd. and Htoo Wood Products Pte Ltd., which is also
listed as being from Myanmar's main city, Yangon.
Pavo
Aircraft Leasing is listed at the same office where the other
three blacklisted firms were based.
The U.S. action
freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction and bars
Americans from conducting business with them at the risk of heavy
fines and prison sentences.
Singapore led regional
criticism of the junta's September crackdown, but rights
activists have accused the city-state of not taking economic
action against the regime.
Singapore strongly denies
allegations that it allows banks based here to keep illicit funds
on behalf of Myanmar's secretive generals.
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