British Banks Tied to A Military Accused of Genocide

BYLINE TIMES 

 Steve Shaw
24 December 2020

Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/PA Images

Steve Shaw reports on the loans that connect British banks to a telecommunications firm that provides money for Myanmar’s military, which has been accused of genocide

Standard Chartered and HSBC have provided tens of millions in loans to Viettel Global Investment, a defence company owned by the Vietnamese Government and the biggest investor in Mytel, a telecommunications firm part-owned by Myanmar’s military. Along with being the biggest shareholder in Mytel, Viettel is authorised to provide Myanmar with “defence and security products”.

HSBC, Standard Chartered in hot water for lending to company with links to Myanmar military

The Daily Star 

Star Online Report
December 21, 2020

 AP file photo

 

Two major UK banks face pressure for lending millions of dollars to a technology company that is partly owned and used by the Myanmar military accused of genocide against the Rohingyas.

UK-based The Observer, a sister concern of The Guardian, on Sunday reported that human rights groups are demanding that two of Britain's biggest banks explain why they have lent tens of millions of pounds to such a company.

HSBC and Standard Chartered have loaned a total of $60m (£44.5m) to Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel, which has stakes in Myanmar mobile network Mytel, in the last four years.

Over that period, the Myanmar military has been accused of committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.