Lloyd's will not comment on a letter it received from theBritish government criticizing its involvement with the governmentof Burma, a spokesman for the market said today.

Chris Gatland confirmed that Lloyd's had received a letter fromthe Foreign Office, but said there would be no comment on itscontents "or the contents of a letter we sent to the market."

Lloyd's has been under attack by the London-based Burma CampaignUK for providing financial support for entities operated by theMynamar government, which it describes as a "brutaldictatorship."

The Burma Campaign said the letter to Lloyd expresseddisapproval of the marketplace's links to the Burmese militaryjunta.

According to Burma Campaign, in 2003 British American Tobaccopulled out of Burma after receiving similar requests from theBritish government and Premier Oil eventually pulled out of Burmain 2002 after coming under pressure from the Foreign Office.

While Lloyd's would not detail its response to the ForeignOffice letter, Burma Campaign said Lloyd's chairman, Lord Levene,had reportedly written to all managing agents "urging them toconsider" the involvement with Burma's regime.

Burma Campaign said Lloyd's has refused to admit the full extentof their involvement in Burma, failing to clarify if they areinvolved in sectors lucrative to the regime, such as oil, gas andmining.

Johnny Chatterton, Burma Campaign officer, said in a statement,"Lloyd's is breaking government guidelines and damaging theirreputation. If they don't end their involvement in Burma soon theywill be branded by Burma in the same way that Barclays was withApartheid South Africa and Exxon are with climate change."

In August, when Burma Campaign put Lloyd's at the top of its"Dirty List" for dealing with the regime, Lloyd's put out astatement saying, "Unless there are official U.N. sanctions inplace, Lloyd's does not instruct the market where it can and cannotwrite business."

A spokesperson said at that time that "a very small amount ofreinsurance is written at Lloyd's in Burmese shipping and aviation.We are unaware of any businesses at Lloyd's defying internationalsanctions. If we discovered any underwriters breaching sanctions,we would take action immediately."