OFAC Issues Sanctions Alert and New Designations of Individuals and Companies Involved with Burma’s Military Regime

On March 24, 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a sanctions alert that informed individuals, businesses, and other persons of the sanctions risks associated with the provision of jet fuel to Burma’s military regime. In addition, OFAC designated two individuals and six entities pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14014. The designated individuals and entities are allegedly connected to Burma’s military and have been accused of enabling the military regime’s continuing atrocities, including through the importation, storage, and distribution of jet fuel to Burma’s military.

According to OFAC, the military regime, which overthrew the country’s democratically elected civilian government on February 1, 2021, has relied on imports of jet fuel to carry out its lethal air strikes and attacks that have killed hundreds of men, women, and children throughout the country. The alleged attacks include air strikes in late 2022 on the village of Let Yet Kone in central Burma that impacted a school with children and teachers present, as well as an air strike in the northern state of Kachin that killed as many as 80 people who were attending a musical concert. In the sanctions alert, OFAC emphasized that it “condemns and will continue to take steps to address the military regime’s growing use of aerial attacks that have hit schools, cultural events, and places of worship.”

In the sanctions designation announcement, which can be read here in full, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson stated that “Burma’s military regime continues to inflict pain and suffering on its own people [and] [t]he United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the people of Burma, and will continue to deny the military the materiel it uses to commit these atrocities.”

For more HSF analysis and background concerning the U.S. sanctions and export controls efforts in Burma, please read:

• S. Regulators Publish Myanmar Sanctions Advisory (January 28, 2022)
• US Treasury publishes new Myanmar sanctions regulations (June 1, 2022)
• OFAC Sanctions Myanmar’s State Administrative Council and Associated Individuals (May 19, 2021)
• OFAC Sanctions Key State-Owned Timber and Pearl Enterprises in Myanmar (April 23, 2021)

Sanctions Alert

In the sanctions alert, OFAC stressed that providing jet fuel to Burma’s military regime could be sanctionable under one or more designation prongs in E.O. 14014, as incorporated into the Burma Sanctions Regulations (BSR), 31 CFR part 525. Sanctionable conduct could also include:

• Operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy;
• Being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in serious human rights abuses or in actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Burma; or
• Being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the military or security forces of Burma or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014.

It is worth noting that E.O. 14014 also specifically provides for the imposition of sanctions on persons determined to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the E.O. 14014.

Sanction Designations

The OFAC sanction designations announcement focused on two areas of sanctionable conduct: (i) operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy, and (ii) supplying equipment to Burma’s military.

Operating in the Defense Sector

The OFAC sanction designations action targeted three entities for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy, specifically based on their alleged involvement in the importation, storage, and distribution of jet fuel to Burma’s military. OFAC stated that its actions further align itself with allies such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union, and the actions will assist in degrading the ability of Burma’s military to power aircraft used in air strikes. Accordingly, the following entities have been designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy:

• Asia Sun Group—a Burma-based company and allegedly a key operator in the jet fuel supply chain supporting Burma’s military regime. It was also sanctioned by Canada and the European Union.
• Asia Sun Trading Co. Ltd.—a Burma-based company that has allegedly purchased jet fuel on behalf of Burma’s air force and imported it through the Thilawa Port. It was also designated by the United Kingdom earlier this year.
• Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co. Ltd.—a Burma-based company that is the transport contractor that allegedly used tanker trucks to distribute jet fuel to military bases across Burma. It was also designated by the United Kingdom earlier this year.

Supplying Equipment to Burma’s Military

The OFAC sanction designations action also targeted individuals and entities that are alleged to have associated with or have provided equipment to Burma’s military. The designated individuals and entities are as follows:

• Tun Min Latt —a Burmese national and close associate of U.S.-designated military regime leader Min Aung Hlaing and is the son of a former military official. Tun has allegedly utilized his companies, including the Burma-based Star Sapphire Group of Companies and Burma-based Star Sapphire Trading Company Ltd., to import military arms and equipment, including drones and aircraft parts, while acting as Burma’s agent with the U.S.-sanctioned People’s Republic of China arms manufacturer NORINCO. Additionally, OFAC reported that Tun was arrested in Thailand in September 2022 on charges of narcotics trafficking and money laundering. When he was arrested, Thai police found numerous documents that belonged to Min’s U.S.-designated children, including his son, Aung Pyae Sone, and daughter, Khin Thiri Thet Mon.
• Win Min Soe—the wife of Tun Min Latt and co-owner of both Star Sapphire Trading Company Limited and the Singapore-based Star Sapphire Group Pte. Ltd.

Accordingly, Tun Min Latt was designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy. Win Min Soe was designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being a spouse or adult child of Tun Min Latt, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014.

Star Sapphire Group of Companies, Star Sapphire Trading Company Ltd., and Star Sapphire Group Pte. Ltd. were also designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Tun Min Latt, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014. Star Sapphire Group Pte. Ltd. was additionally designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly Win Min Soe, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14014.

Read here for more information concerning the designated individuals and entities.

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