NEWS-Myanmar Denies Talk Khun SA Fi

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Myanmar Denies Talk Khun SA Financing Development

               Reuters
               11-FEB-98
               By Sutin Wannabovorn 

               YANGON, Feb 11 (Reuters) -
               Myanmar's military government on
               Wednesday denied speculation that
               former opium warlord Khun Sa was
               laundering ill-gotten money to finance
               businesses in the capital Yangon,
               where he now lives. 

               ``We do not know whether he has
               money deposits in banks in foreign
               countries or not, but rumours of Khun
               Sa laundering money are totally
               untrue,'' government spokesman
               Colonel Hla Min told Reuters. 

               ``The government has even loaned
               him some money to live on, and he
               lives under our supervision. 

               ``Khun Sa used to fight against the
               government for several years when
               more than 720 Myanmar soldiers
               were killed and 2,300 of them
               wounded. Do you think he will bring
               the money -- if he had it -- into
               Myanmar?'' the colonel said. 

               Khun Sa, once a powerful controller
               of drugs flowing from the infamous
               Golden Triangle along Myanmar's
               northeastern border, surrendered to
               the Myanmar (Burma) government in
               1996. 

               He has not been in the public eye
               since his surrender and little is
               known about his activities. 

               As high rise buildings and hotel
               sprout in Yangon, there has been
               speculation among the diplomatic
               and business circles and in the
               media that Khun Sa may be using
               wealth amassed from his former drug
               trade to finance urban development
               in the capital. 

               ``It is widely felt among businessmen
               here that a large portion of
               businesses, including some hotels,
               belong to Khun Sa,'' said a
               businessman who declined to be
               identified. 

               Another businessman said he had
               learned that Khun Sa was laundering
               massive amounts of his black money
               in Yangon. 

               Last year, a close Khun Sa aide told
               Reuters that his boss has invested in
               various businesses, including a hotel
               and nightclub in Yangon. 

               Khun Sa, who is half Shan and half
               Chinese, formerly commanded
               20,000 guerrillas of his Mong Tai
               Army (MTA) ostensibly to fight for
               independence for his northeastern
               Shan state. 

               But international drug agencies
               accused him of using the MTA as a
               personal army to protect his opium
               and heroin business in the Golden
               Triangle, where the borders of
               Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. 

               The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
               estimates that 70 percent of all
               heroin going to the U.S. originates
               from the Golden Triangle. 

               Khun Sa was indicted by a U.S. court
               in December 1989 on various
               charges of heroin trafficking.
               Washington has demanded that he
               be handed over to it to stand trial in
               the United States and has offered a
               $2 million reward for his capture. 

               But Myanmar's military has turned
               down the U.S. demand. ``The United
               States said they wanted Khun Sa and
               we also wanted Khun Sa, but they
               never assisted us in fighting against
               narcotics. We fought against opium
               growing on our own and when got
               Khun Sa, they said they wanted him,''
               Hla Min said. 

               ``It is like a game in a football
               competition and we won. So Khun Sa
               is regarded as the trophy given to us
               as the reward for the winner. 

               ``And it is now up to us whether to
               keep our trophy in the showcase, in
               the living room or in the toilet.'' 

                  Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.