Norway’s pension fund KPL is going to divest from Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to its links to the Myanmar military. The company has increasingly come under scrutiny for its ties to a military linked conglomerate for a container terminal project in Yangon.
KPL on June 22 said it would divest from Adani Ports as per its “responsible investment policy” on grounds that the company had links to Myanmar’s military, Reuters reported.
KPL had an investment worth $1.05 million in Adani Ports at the time it announced its decision.
In its statement to Reuters KPL said: “Adani's operations in Myanmar and its business partnership with that country's armed forces constitutes an unacceptable risk of contributing to the violation of KLP's guidelines for responsible investment … the port could be used by the army to continue its violations of human rights.”
Land for the container terminal project in Yangon belongs to the Myanmar military and the report said there was "imminent danger" the armed forces could use the port to import weapons and equipment, or as a naval base.
KPL further said discussions in regards to this had been on since March and met the management in April 2021 and Adani told them it took “human rights seriously” and had a human rights policy but “made no due diligence assessments relating to human rights before the agreement it concluded with the Myanmar military".
Adani said in its statement it could “abandon and write down the investment” adding: “The write down will not materially affect the balance sheet as it is equivalent to about 1.3 percent of...total assets.” It did not respond to queries on KPL’s statement.
The Myanmar military has been criticised for its draconian crackdown on protests in the country after a coup on February 1 where it jailed democratic leaders and took over administration.
The Myanmar military did not respond to queries, the report added.