GOM QUESTIONS DESIGNATION OF MALAYSIAN DOCTOR AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 001056 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MTS AND AF/S TREASURY FOR OFAC SINGAPORE PASS TO SUSAN BAKER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2018 TAGS: PREL EFIN ZI MY SUBJECT: GOM QUESTIONS DESIGNATION OF MALAYSIAN DOCTOR AS MUGABE CRONY REF: TREASURY PRESS RELEASE OF 25 NOV 2008 Classified By: Political Counselor Mark D. Clark for reason 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Malaysian Foreign Ministry Senior Under Secretary (Americas, EU) Zainuddin Yahya called in Polcouns for a November 28 meeting and raised questions concerning press reports that the U.S. had imposed sanctions on a Malaysian doctor, Mahmood Awang Kechik, who served as a physician for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. After reviewing the Treasury press release of November 25, which we provided, Zainuddin asked if the U.S. had designated Mahmood because of his provision of medical services to Mugabe or because he shipped medical equipment to Zimbabwe. Neither action would seem to justify sanctions, Zainuddin said. Polcouns assured Zainuddin that the sanctions were not related to Mahmood's role as a physician and that related shipments of equipment to Zimbabwe were not innocent commercial transactions but involved corrupt practices. Polcouns promised to provide further information on Mahmood if and when this became available. Zainuddin said the Foreign Ministry may encourage Mahmood to approach the Embassy with information "to clear his name." ¶2. (C) Action request: Beyond the wording in the initial press release and general documents on the Mugabe sanctions, Embassy requests cleared language that further characterizes Mahmood's actions related to the OFAC designation without going into sensitive details. Our ability to adequately explain the decision on Mahmood is important, not because of this individual case, but because it has bearing on the credibility of other U.S. current and potential sanctions determinations unrelated to the situation in Zimbabwe. KEITH