Kyaw Min Oo is a Burmese national and businessman with close ties to the Burmese military. Since before the February 2021 coup, Kyaw Min Oo has facilitated arms deals and weapons purchases on behalf of Burma’s military, while also acting as the middleman to arrange visits to Burma by high-ranking foreign military officers. Additionally, Kyaw Min Oo has used his company, Sky Aviator Company Limited, to facilitate upgrades and maintenance for Burmese military aircraft.
Kyaw Min Oo is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14014 for operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy.
Sky Aviator Company Limited is a company founded by Kyaw Min Oo and has facilitated arms deals on behalf of the Burmese military, to include the import of aircraft parts. Sky Aviator Company Limited was designated by the United Kingdom on June 16, 2022.
On February 10, 2021, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14014 of February 10, 2021, “Blocking Property With Respect to the Situation in Burma” (86 FR 9429, February 12, 2021).
In E.O. 14014, the President determined that the situation in and in relation to Burma, and in particular the February 1, 2021 coup, in which the military overthrew the democratically elected civilian government of Burma and unjustly arrested and detained government leaders, politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, and religious leaders, thereby rejecting the will of the people of Burma as expressed in elections held in November 2020 and undermining the country's democratic transition and rule of law, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Burma Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 525 (the “Regulations”), to implement E.O. 14014, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 14014. A copy of E.O. 14014 appears in appendix A to this part.
The Regulations are being published in abbreviated form at this time for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC intends to supplement this part 525 with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions. The appendix to the Regulations will be removed when OFAC supplements this part with a more comprehensive set of regulations.
