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