MYANMAR DENOUNCES US TSY DEPT ACTION VS BANKING SECTOR

BANGKOK (AP)--Myanmar's military government Friday denounced U.S.
government sanctions against its banking industry, saying any
financial sector problems were partly the fault of developed nations
that failed to provide aid.

The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday designated Myanmar and two of
its private commercial banks as being of "primary money-laundering
concern," and announced plans to prohibit U.S. financial institutions
from doing business with the two.

The action against the two banks represented the first time the U.S.
Treasury Department used a section of the USA Patriot Act against
specific foreign financial institutions, it said.

Instead of sharing wealth and experience, developed nations "are
heavily hampering the countries of peaceful evolution, like Myanmar,
by their constantly negative attitude, irresponsible actions and
unrealistic expectations," Myanmar's government said in a statement.

The U.S. has long been a leading critic of Myanmar's military regime
for its poor human rights record, and its failure to hand over power
to a democratically elected government. It bans aid to the government
and strictly limits trade with the country.

"The U.S. government has been criticizing and condemning almost every
institution in existence in Myanmar, and now is the time and the turn
for Myanmar financial institutions to be accused of wrong doing," the
statement said.

The Treasury Department said its action against Myanmar, also known as
Burma, "is the result of its failure to remedy serious deficiencies in
its anti-money laundering system."

It also announced plans to impose a ban on U.S. financial institutions
having correspondent accounts with all Myanmar banks, allowing
exemptions in certain cases.

However, no exemptions would be allowed for two banks - the Myanmar
Mayflower Bank and the Asia Wealth Bank - accused of being tied to
narcotics traffickers.

The USA Patriot Act was previously employed against two countries, the
Ukraine and Nauru, but not against specific financial institutions,
the Treasury Department said. The wide-ranging Patriot Act was passed
to fight terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.

The two Myanmar banks are not accused of having ties to terrorists.