JUSTICE FOR MYANMAR
Three Adani Group companies have pursued business with the illegal Myanmar military junta and the military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), according to an examination of leaked documents, company disclosures and social media posts. The new revelations show Adani Group’s deepening complicity with the illegal junta and its businesses, as it commits ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity.
After the Myanmar military launched its illegal coup attempt, Adani Power Limited and Adani Transmission Limited pursued new business with the junta. Meanwhile, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Limited (Adani Ports or APSEZ) increased its investment in its Yangon port project, even after announcing its withdrawal in October 2021, further benefiting MEC. MEC is sanctioned by the US, Australia, Canada, the EU and UK.
Adani Ports’ sale of its Yangon project is being carried out in secret from the people of Myanmar who the port ultimately belongs to. Adani Ports has ignored repeated emails from Justice For Myanmar asking for the disclosure of the buyer of the port, failing to meet basic standards of transparency as laid out in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
New evidence suggests:
- APSEZ
issued shareholder loans worth around US$24 million for the Ahlone
International Port Terminal (2) in the six months from October 2021.
These loans funded the port development and procurement of equipment
that ultimately benefits MEC, which will take control of the port and
its assets at the end of the lease.
? - Weeks after announcing
it was withdrawing from Myanmar, Adani Ports sold three reconditioned
rail mounted quay cranes with Siemens drive trains to its Myanmar
subsidiary for US$6.9 million, which were delivered in early 2022.
Siemens responded that they were told the end destination of the cranes
was Mundra, India.
? - Leaked documents confirm Adani Ports paid MEC US$22 million in 2019 for “land clearance”, which is an apparent kickback.
? - In
October 2021, Adani Power Limited sent an expression of interest to a
US sanctioned junta minister for the import of coal to India from
Myanmar and to seek cooperation in the development of the coal mining
industry in Myanmar. Coal mining finances junta war crimes and crimes
against humanity, including in Sagaing Region where the coal is to be
purchased from. Adani Power’s local partner told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the expression of interest was rejected by the junta.
? - Adani Transmission Limited was in negotiation with the junta for the cross-border trade in electricity, according to the Adani Power expression of interest. In response to questions from Justice For Myanmar, Adani Transmission denied negotiations took placed but acknowledged that they were “approached”.
Continued port of complicity
Over two years since the military’s coup attempt, Adani Ports remains in Myanmar and has continued to develop Ahlone International Port Terminal (2), a strategic project that provides the Myanmar military with a source of funds, a lucrative future asset and improved logistical capabilities.
Adani’s Yangon port project was launched in 2019, following the Myanmar military’s crime of genocide against the Rohingya and the project proceeded against the recommendations of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar to cut ties with military businesses. The Fact-Finding Mission named Adani Ports as a “stark example” of foreign companies paying military conglomerates for the use of their property. Records from the Myanmar Investment Commission, released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, show that Adani Ports’ proposed capital for the project was US$290 million.
The port is being developed under a build-operate-transfer agreement with MEC which includes an upfront payment of US$90 million to the military conglomerate that was completed in 2019, according to company disclosures. A leaked Myanmar Investment Commission decision letter shows that the payment consisted of a rental fee of US$30 million, a land use premium of $US38 million and a “land clearance fee” of US$22 million. Adani Ports did not respond to questions over the meaning of the “land clearance fee”, which appears to be an egregious overpayment for the demolition of low-level buildings on part of the site, and is an apparent kickback.
Justice for Myanmar for more