MYANMAR URGED ON MONEY LAUNDERING LAW

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- An international drug watchdog on Wednesday
welcomed Myanmar's enactment of an anti-money laundering law but urged its
government to implement the legislation without delay.

In its annual report for 2002, the Vienna, Austria-based International
Narcotic Control Board acknowledged that Myanmar had made progress in
fighting money-laundering but remains on a list of countries considered to
be "uncooperative in efforts to counter" the practice.

Myanmar enacted an anti-money laundering law in June giving authorities
wide-ranging powers to investigate and seize assets acquired by criminal
means and impose jail terms of at least 10 years for laundering money from
narcotics trafficking.

The report said the INCB "encourages Myanmar to implement the new
legislation against money laundering without delay." It said that Myanmar
remains on a list of countries judged to have "serious and systemic
weaknesses" in their anti-money laundering programs.

The list -- published by the Financial Action Task Force on Money
Laundering, an intergovernmental body that develops and promotes policies
to combat money laundering -- also includes the Philippines, Indonesia, the
Cook Islands, Egypt, Guatemala, Nauru, Nigeria, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines and Ukraine.