31 March 2021

The Adani Group is paying up to $US52 million ($68.1 million) to a Myanmar military-controlled company that has just been slapped with sanctions by the United States over human rights violations.

Leaked documents in a report by human rights lawyers and activists obtained by the ABC reveal the scale of Adani's cooperation with the junta over a proposed container port in Yangon.

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The leaked documents, from the Yangon Region Investment Commission, show Adani's subsidiary is paying $US30 million to MEC in "land lease fees".

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A joint report by the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ) and activist group Justice For Myanmar (JFM) says another $US22 million in "land clearance fees" is likely to also flow to MEC as the owner of the port site.

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A spokeswoman for Adani Ports said the company was "watching the situation in Myanmar carefully and will engage with the relevant authorities and stakeholders to seek their advice on the way forward".

She said the Yangon International Terminal project was "fully owned and developed by" the company.

"It is an independent container terminal with no joint venture partners."

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Last month, following Myanmar's coup, the Adani Group issued a statement denying it had engaged with military leaders over the 2019 approval of its $US290 million port.

"We categorically deny having engaged with military leadership while receiving this approval or thereafter," it said.

However, Adani Ports chief executive Karan Adani met with top general Min Aung Hlaing, an accused war criminal, in late July 2019.

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