Adani paid millions to Myanmar military company prompting calls for Adani Ports’ investors to cut ties
Pressure is mounting on companies invested in Adani Ports, as a new report has exposed shocking new links between Adani Ports and the Myanmar military owned company Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), whose business operations fund the activities of the Myanmar military.
The report 'Port of Complicity: Adani Ports in Myanmar’ publishes leaked documents revealing for the first time the amount paid by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited’s (Adani Ports) Myanmar subsidiary, the Adani Yangon International Terminal Company Limited, which is constructing a container port in Yangon on military owned land. The Adani Ports subsidiary paid a minimum of US$30 million in land lease fees to Myanmar Economic Corporation and a further US$22 million in land clearance fees.
The damning revelations have prompted calls from the #StopAdani movement and human rights groups for investors like HSBC, Norges Bank, BlackRock and TIAA / Nuveen among others, to immediately sever ties with Adani Ports or risk complicity in funding the activities of the Myanmar military.
Explosive photos and footage show Adani CEO Karan Adani exchanging gifts with a Senior General of the Myanmar Military, who has been sanctioned by the USA, UK, Canada and EU for his role in the military’s serious human rights abuses. The photos contradict Adani statements that deny engagement with military leadership.
Adani Ports is also funding critical elements of the Adani Group’s Carmichael coal project in central Queensland. Last year it was revealed that Adani Ports had set up a new rail company that will haul the coal from Adani’s Carmichael coal mine to Adani’s North Queensland Export Terminal Port on the Great Barrier Reef coast.
Pressure is building on Adani Ports’ investors with major bondholder PIMCO recently cutting ties with Adani Ports over its links to Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal project. The release of the damning report also comes as Adani Ports’ inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index is being reviewed after campaigners raised concerns over its links with the Myanmar military and the Carmichael coal project.
Last week the USA and the UK imposed sanctions to blacklist Myanmar military companies, including the Myanmar Economic Corporation who Adani is in a business partnership with. Human rights and environment groups are calling for Adani Ports’ US investors like BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, TIAA / Nuveen and UK investors and bond arrangers like HSBC, Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered to immediately cut all ties with Adani Ports or remain complicit in the funding of genocide and crimes carried out by Myanmar’s military dictators.
A copy of the report from the Australian Centre for International Justice and Justice for Myanmar is available here.
A copy of the media statement from Australian Centre for International Justice and Justice for Myanmar is available here.
Footage of the Senior General of the Myanmar military meeting and exchanging gifts with Adani Ports CEO Karan Adani is available here.
Pablo Brait, campaigner with Market Forces said: “Investors and bond arrangers like Barclays and BlackRock should not be risking their reputations by supporting a company that is so mired in controversy. Adani Ports’ role in the Carmichael thermal coal project - a project that will fuel the climate crisis and the extreme weather it is causing - shows it is not a responsible or ethical company. When you add its reported links to the Myanmar military you get a picture of a company with a very concerning environmental, social and governance risk profile."
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