BURMA'S "ABSCONDING" WASHINGTON EMBASSY STAFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000401 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM BM SUBJECT: BURMA'S "ABSCONDING" WASHINGTON EMBASSY STAFF Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (U) The New Light of Myanmar, the Burmese regime's official English language daily, carried on April 3 a 2-paragraph article about a diplomatic official who "absconded" from the Burmese embassy in Washington on April ¶1. The full text of the newspaper article follows: Begin article: A Myanmar Embassy Staff in Washington Absconds with Family U Aung Lin Htut, a retired major, attached to Myanmar Embassy in Washington, the USA, absconded with his wife Daw Tin Lay Nwe, one son and two daughters and a maid, in an act of betrayal to the State on 1 April 2005. Daw Tin Lay Nwe, wife of U Aung Lin Htut is said to have been summoned to appear before a court in connection with settlement of bad debt for the lease of a building in a commercial case. End text of article. ¶2. (C) U Aung Lin Htut is a "former" Military Intelligence (MI) official with the rank of major. Embassy sources claim that he may have received U.S.-sponsored training in military and drug trafficking control in the 1980s. In 1989, Aung Lin Htut was reassigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an assistant director. As a former right-hand man of ousted Prime Minister and chief of MI, Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, Aung Lin Htut was hand-picked for the Washington job in order to report on Embassy staff activities and the efforts of Burmese exiled activists based in the United States. Unofficial GOB sources claim that he may have stolen $80,000 of Embassy consular funds and a Burmese language newspaper reports that the summons to his wife was issued by a Burmese court. Martinez