General: No money laundering occurs

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Subject: General: No money laundering occurs in Myanmar (24-6-99)

General: No money laundering occurs in Myanmar 

	  YANGON: Money laundering and trafficking in women don't exist in Myanmar, 
	  the military government's intelligence chief told a regional conference
yesterday.

                  "There are stringent regulations against money laundering
and, therefore,
                  allegations against Myanmar of such practices are
completely without basis,"
                  Gen Khin Nyunt said. 

                  The general was speaking at the opening of the second
annual Asean
                  Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime. 

                  Gen Khin Nyunt, nonetheless, conceded that money
laundering and trafficking
                  of women, drugs and arms were threats to regional
stability. 

                  Myanmar is the world's largest producer of opium, the raw
material for heroin.
                  Many opium warlords led ethnic insurgencies against the
government. In order
                  to end them, the government negotiated ceasefire deals
with the warlords and
                  their armies. 

                  Critics have charged that the deals allow the warlords to
invest their drug money
                  in businesses here and around the country.--AP