U.S. imposes new sanctions linked to Myanmar rulers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Tuesday imposed more financial sanctions against a business tycoon linked to Myanmar's military rulers, targeting companies used to purchase helicopters and other military equipment.

The action designates three firms controlled by Tay Za and his Htoo Trading conglomerate, including a subsidiary based in Singapore, as supporters of human rights violations in Myanmar, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The action is the third package of U.S. sanctions aimed at putting pressure on Myanmar's leaders since a massive government crackdown on protesters late last year.

"The president has made clear that we will continue to take action against the military junta and those who prop it up so long as human rights violations continue and democracy is suppressed," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's sanctions arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The action prohibits Americans from doing business with the companies and with seven newly designated individuals, and seeks to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

Tay Za and five of his other companies, including tourist airline Air Bagan, were blacklisted by the Treasury in October.

The firms designated on Tuesday included Myanmar Avia Export Co. Ltd., which the Treasury said was used to purchase helicopters and aircraft on behalf of Myanmar's military. It also designated Ayer Shwe Wah Co. Ltd, a firm for which the son of a senior Myanmar general serves as a director, and Pavo Aircraft Leasing Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company that directs Htoo business ventures in the city-state.

Singapore state broadcaster Channel New Asia in November quoted Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as speaking out against sanctions against Myanmar, saying nobody supported them in southeast Asia.

Myanmar's impoverished neighbors, Laos and Cambodia, also have condemned the sanctions.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said previous rounds of sanctions have had an effect on Myanmar.

"We do know that sanctions can have an impact. They help curtail economic activity and further isolate the junta, which is part of getting them to recognize that they need to open up and allow their democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to be able to meet with the leaders as they said the would allow her to do," Perino said.

"They say they are going to do things that they don't follow up on," she said.

Myanmar's junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, killing at least 15 people.

(Reporting by David Lawder and Matt Spetalnick, editing by Vicki Allen)