BANK MELLAT/FEEB DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO MFA AND

S E C R E T KUALA LUMPUR 000739 SIPDIS DEPT FOR T DEPT FOR ISN DEPT FOR NEA DEPT FOR EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2019 TAGS: EFIN ETTC KNNP MY PINR SUBJECT: BANK MELLAT/FEEB DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO MFA AND PM,S OFFICE REF: SECSTATE 90063 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Rapson for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (S) DCM Rapson, accompanied by econoff, conveyed reftel points and non-paper on First East Export Bank to Mohammad Radzi, Deputy Secretary General I of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, on September 4. DCM highlighted the key points of the non-paper for Radzi, noting specifically that if the GOM does not commit to revoking the license of First East Export Bank (FEEB) within seven days, the U.S. would have to proceed with sanctioning FEEB under U.S. law. Radzi, who said he was fully aware of the FEEB issue and its importance to the U.S., thanked us for the non-paper. He did not react or respond directly to the issue of looming U.S. sanctions, but said that the GOM is in full compliance with all UN sanctions and that the FEEB license was not in breach of any domestic rules or regulations. He recommended that if the USG has any specific evidence of violations, we should present that to Bank Negara Malaysia (BN) for review and action. The DCM encouraged Radzi to review our non-paper carefully, noting it had new and sensitive information that connected FEEB with Iranian entities engaged in proliferation-related actitivites. Radzi concluded that they would carefully study the non-paper, but he gave no indication as to what the next step on their side would be. DCM encouraged an early reply. ¶2. (SBU) The non-paper was also directly conveyed September 4 to the Foreign Advisor in the Prime Minister,s office. Post has requested a meeting with senior officials at Bank Negara (the Central Bank) to deliver the FEEB demarche. We expect that meeting to happen within the next couple of days. KEITH