Steven Law listens to a speech during a
luncheon for Asean economic ministers in Toronto on June 5, 2014. (Photo: Asia
Pacific Foundation of Canada)
Burma’s Honorary Consul to Canada, Bryon
Wilfert, has responded to the controversy generated following last month’s
visit to Canada by Steven Law, a Burmese billionaire who US authorities allege
is tied to the drug trade, by claiming that it is legal under Canadian law to
do business with the controversial tycoon.
In
early June, Law (aka Tun Myint Naing) traveled to Canada as a member of the
Burmese delegation taking part in an Economic Ministers Roadshow organized by
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The Burmese delegation was
led by Burma’s Minister of National Planning and Economic Development Kan Zaw
and included three other Burmese businessmen in addition to Law, who, as The
Irrawaddy first reported, participated using his Chinese name, Lo Ping Zhong.
During
his stay in Canada, Law and the rest of the Burmese delegation attended a
business round table in Toronto that was co-organized by Wilfert, a former
Member of Parliament. It remains unclear if this and the other events that Law
took part in resulted in Law signing any deals with Canadian firms or
individuals.
“[A]nyone
who met him [Law] during his time here did not break Canadian rules if they did
business with him,” Wilfert wrote in a July 8 article in the Ottawa-based
Embassy, a weekly newspaper that focuses on Canadian foreign affairs.
Although
the US government specifically forbids US firms from doing business with Law,
Asia World and a list of related front companies, Canada does not include Law
or any of his aliases on a list of designated individuals with whom Canadians
are barred from doing businesses. The spokesperson for Canada’s minister of
international trade did not respond to The Irrawaddy’s questions regarding
whether Ottawa has any plans to add Law to the list, which includes his fellow
Burmese billionaire Tay Za and retired strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
Despite
Wilfert’s assurances, those Canadian firms that do businesses with Law could
still potentially face legal difficulties with the US Treasury Department’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which is tasked with enforcing American
sanctions. Canadian firms with significant US operations are particularly
vulnerable to the scrutiny of OFAC.
Wilfert,
who was appointed Burma’s honorary consul to Canada in March of this year, is a
former MP representing the Toronto area who previously served as parliamentary
secretary to the minister of finance. Prior to his appointment, Wilfert appears
to have had little involvement in Burma. In May 2005, he was part of a group
MPs who voted against a motion that called for the Canadian government to “to
condemn more forcefully the repeated and systematic human rights violations
committed by the military junta in power in Burma” and “impose more
comprehensive economic measures on Burma.”
The
motion calling on Canada’s then Liberal government, of which Wilfert was part,
to take a more active stance in pushing for the release of Burmese opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the restoration of civilian government, passed
despite concerns from critics that it was too strong of an approach. Some two
years later, Canada imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Burma that were
eventually lifted in 2012.
According
to an announcement issued by the Burmese Embassy in Ottawa, Wilfert’s role is
to assist the embassy in promoting economic investment and tourism.
Canadian Opposition Raises Concerns
Canada’s
New Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in the national parliament,
says Law’s arrival in Canada as part of the high-level trade delegation is the
latest example of the Canadian government prioritizing trade over human rights.
Don
Davies, an MP from British Columbia, the first stopover for the Burmese trade
delegation, called Law’s visit to Canada alarming. “Given the publicly
available information concerning Mr. Law, and the Conservatives’ proclaimed
‘crackdown’ on granting visas to people of questionable character, it is also
puzzling,” Davies told The Irrawaddy. Davies, who serves as his party’s
international trade critic for the left-of-center NDP, is frequently at odds
with Steven Harper’s Conservative party government.
“The
Conservatives not only do not balance human rights and trade promotion—they
ignore this connection,” said Davies, who added that a recent trade agreement
between Canada and Honduras, a Central American state plagued by what rights
groups say are government-backed death squads, is further proof that the
Harper’s Conservative government is mishandling trade policy.
Last
month a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast told The Irrawaddy
that the Canadian government had no role in the inclusion of Law in the
delegation, which she said was the responsibility of the Burmese government.
Fast recently spoke out about Law’s visit to Canada for the first time, telling
Abbotsford News, a weekly newspaper based in the minister’s hometown, that he
was “disappointed and concerned” that Law was able to come to Canada.
“For
some reason, this particular individual slipped through the cracks,” the
Conservative MP said. “We don’t know why that happened. It concerns us.”
Davies
is unconvinced by Fast’s explanation and points out that Law was able to come
to Canada while Seng Zin, a women’s activist from Burma’s northern Kachin
State, was recently denied a Canadian visa to attend a peace training program.
“The
Conservatives immigration policy is one of failure, contradiction and
ideological meddling. When millionaire
businessmen with suspected connections to the global drug trade can receive a
visa to enter Canada, but respected human rights activists and law-abiding
citizens cannot, the facts speak for themselves,” said Davies.
Law—whose
father, the late Lo Hsing Han—was dubbed by US authorities the “godfather of
heroin,”—is the head of Asia World, one of Burma’s largest conglomerates. The
firm has been involved in some of the country’s largest construction projects,
including the Shwe gas and oil pipelines and the officially stalled Myitsone
dam.
Both
Law and his father were added to the US sanctions list in 2008. A press release
announcing their inclusion claimed that, “In addition to their support for the
Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in
illicit activities.”
The
statement went on to describe Lo Hsing Han as “one of the world’s key heroin
traffickers dating back to the early 1970s.” It added that “Steven Law joined
his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the
wealthiest individuals in Burma.”
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