Global resources giant Adani tried to develop coal ventures in Myanmar at the same time it was telling the world it would exit the country in the wake of a bloody military takeover, leaked documents show.
International pressure to cut business ties with the ruling military junta, which seized power from a democratically elected government in February 2021, prompted Adani’s announcement later that year that it would sell off its port in the capital, Yangon.
But leaked documents obtained by a Myanmar human rights group and shared with ABC Investigations reveal Adani, on the same day it flagged its exit from the port, lodged an “expression of interest” to export coal from Myanmar (also known as Burma) that would help fund the brutal regime.
In a letter to a US-sanctioned junta minister, an Adani executive said the group was also negotiating a related electricity supply deal with the regime.
“Your excellency… we enthuse to cooperate the development of Myanmar’s Electric Power sector as well as Myanmar’s coal production and mining industry,” Adani Power joint president Dwarkesh Sharma said.
He asked the Myanmar regime for details from its “esteemed organizations” on coal prospects in the Sagaing region, a flashpoint for military atrocities.
Since the coup, junta security forces have killed an estimated 3,000 civilians — many of them in Sagaing, where air strikes, arson, torture, and summary executions amount to war crimes, according to United Nations officials.
Other resources companies, including Australia’s Woodside Energy, suspended operations in Myanmar after the coup, later abandoning their investments.
A Myanmar businessman who submitted Adani’s coal proposal, Sun Tun Aung, said after the coup Adani talked with private owners of coal deposits in Sagaing about developing mines.
“Adani [was] going to provide the technical assistance and then, how to take care of the coal mining and then bring down to [Yangon international port],” he told ABC Investigations.
“After that, we export to overseas.”
But Mr Aung said the regime knocked the mining company back.
“At that time, they were not willing to approve,” he said.
“Right now, we are afraid [of] international pressure. Adani’s a big company. If they do something in Myanmar, they suffer the damage in the market. So [they] have said they [are] afraid to finish the project.”
Mr Aung said he was also involved in negotiations between the regime and Adani Transmission over a proposed deal to supply electricity from its Indian power plants.
But it required building a new transmission line across the border to Yangon, which he said would cost “too much” and would add security problems.
The leaked Adani documents were obtained by Justice for Myanmar.
An Adani group spokesman did not respond directly to the ABC’s questions about the Myanmar coal or powerline proposals.
He said Adani Power and Adani Transmission “do not conduct business in Myanmar and [have] no interest in doing so”.
“Any rumour mongering or suggestion otherwise by the ABC or others is unfounded and incorrect.”
But, in further revelations which cast doubt on Adani’s public disavowals of the junta, documents show it has continued to engage with sanctioned regime leaders while pouring millions into its Yangon international terminal.
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Another arm of the company, Adani Ports, last year cited its commitment to the terminal when appealing directly to junta ministers for tax breaks.
“Excellency, [Adani] has continued in investment in this prestigious project despite various external challenges,” an Adani Ports representative said in leaked correspondence.
“We are committed to making sure that world-class Port infrastructure is built at Yangon for fostering economic development in Myanmar, however… we are incurring substantial losses and interest payments due to delay in the project.”
The port was singled out in a UN report in 2019 as a “stark example” of foreign investment funding the Myanmar military and posing “a high risk” of being linked to human rights violations and war crimes.
Adani Ports had denied engaging with Myanmar military leadership until 2021 when the ABC revealed video and photos showing its boss met with the junta’s top general.
Documents confirm a large chunk of Adani’s $US295 million ($440 million) investment in the port has gone to the military-controlled Myanmar Economic Corporation [MEC], which was slapped with Australian sanctions in February.
Adani has paid MEC $US90 million, including a $US22 million “land clearance fee”.
In the 18 months since flagging its exit, Adani Ports has loaned a further $US24 million to its Myanmar subsidiary to fund construction, dredging, and equipment.
Adani Ports originally said it would exit the port by March last year.
Rawan Arraf, a lawyer from the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), said revelations of Adani’s dealings with regime leaders were “shocking”.
“It’s an appalling attempt by Adani to deepen the business with the military regime and it’s further evidence of their complicity,” she said.
“All the while they’ve misled the public, they’ve misled investors, creditors, the human rights community, and particularly the people in Myanmar and their supporters who cautiously welcomed the news that Adani was going to exit from Myanmar.
“In actual fact, it continued to build the port in Yangon to sell as an asset which will remain in the hands of the criminal military regime in Myanmar.”
The Adani group spokesman said it was still working on its Myanmar exit and “rejects any insinuations on its motivations, lack of ethics or that the project [is] in breach of Australian, US, UN or other international sanctions”.
“Adani Ports… has publicly announced it will exit its investment in the Yangon International Terminal project in a way that ensures the asset cannot be used unethically or to compromise the human rights of the Myanmar people,” he said.
“The process to divest from the project began in 2021 following the military coup in Myanmar, which [Adani Ports] condemned.
“[Adani Ports] continues to work through the divestment process with the diligence and care the circumstances require.
“Since [Adani Ports] won the Yangon International Terminal project in 2020, the goal was to build critical infrastructure that would create local jobs and contribute towards the nation’s economic and social development goals.”
Justice For Myanmar spokeswoman Yadanar Maung said Adani had been “duplicitous in its dealings with the Myanmar military from the start, bankrolling a secretive military conglomerate that is implicated in international crimes”.
Source: ABC News
