[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

NYC COUNCIL TO VOTE ON CURBING DEAL



Subject: NYC COUNCIL TO VOTE ON CURBING DEALINGS WITH BURMA

Monday May 5 6:33 PM EDT 

NYC council to vote on curbing dealings with Burma

NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuter) - The New York City Council plans to approve on May
14 a bill
that would restrict the city's financial dealings with banks and companies
doing business in Burma, a
city council spokesman said. 

The city council's bill could affect a number of major companies, including
American Express Co ,
Citibank ( Citicorp ), International Business Machines Corp , Texaco Inc ,
Procter & Gamble Co ,
and some Japanese car makers, including Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T , he added. 

"These companies would come under the scope of our legislation," said the
spokesman, Charles
Walker. 

On May 6, the council's Committee on Governmental Operations plans to to
hold a hearing on the
bill. The measure would go further than a ban approved last month by the
Clinton Administration, the
council said, in prepared remarks, as its bill would not only ban the city's
future dealings with banks
and contractors who do business in Burma, but prohibit agencies from using
vendors who have a
business relationship with or investments in Burma, during any contracts
with the city. 

A six-month grace period would give firms time to wind down their affairs in
Burma, Walker said,
adding Citibank, which helps underwrite the city's debt, was in the process
of doing so. A
spokesman for Citibank, Richard Howe, noted that the firm did not have an
office in that country
and said the firm needed to review the bill's language. 

The council has said it took up the measure against Burma because of alleged
human rights violations
by the nation's State Law and Order Restoration Council, which seized power
in 1988 after crushing
a prodemocracy uprising. 

Peter Vallone, the City Council Speaker, tied the council's latest proposal
to other measures the
body has taken against countries it wants to prod. 

"The Council undertook similar actions to encourage the governments of South
Africa and Northern
Ireland to do the right thing," he said, in prepared remarks. Adding the
council's recent threat to take
action against Swiss banks helped push Berne to agree to make restitution to
victims of the
Holocaust, he added: "We can and we will use our legislative capabilities to
help restore democracy
in Burma."