A Japanese construction firm was granted an exemption by the U.S. government to make payments to a Myanmar military-owned company despite sanctions aimed at cutting off the Myanmar junta that seized power in a coup from sources of revenue, a Japanese official said on Friday.
The payments relate to work on a Japanese government-funded bridge in Myanmar's commercial hub of Yangon that was approved before the Feb. 1, 2021, coup that plunged the Southeast Asian country into deadly chaos.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it could not confirm whether it granted a license for Japanese company Yokogawa Bridge Corporation to pay the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which would be the first publicized exemption to sanctions issued against junta-linked businesses since the putsch.
