A new report published by Earthrights International (ERI) claims that the Burmese military junta has pocketed almost $5bn from a controversial gas pipeline operated in Eastern Burma by the French oil giant Total in Eastern Burma, while continuing to deprive the country of much-needed social spending.

The Yadana pipeline deal, which has earned Total an estimated $483m since 2000, is so lucrative to the regime that ERI claim it is able to insulate the country’s rulers from the impact of  international sanctions put in place  in response to the country’s systematic human rights abuses. As a result, Total can be argued to play a major role in reinforcing the junta’s power, despite pressure for reform from the United States and Europe.

According to the report, the revenue from the Yadana pipeline project has not been invested in the country’s infrastructure, but deposited by the Burmese regime in two offshore banks in Singapore. Meanwhile, the people of Burma suffer some of the worst standards of living in Asia, with negligible state investment in healthcare or education.

The report’s main author, Matthew Smith, has said: “The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the people’s revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia…The revenue from this pipeline is the regime’s lifeline and a critical leverage point that the international community could use to support the people of Burma.”

Read the Earthrights International reports here

Read the full Independent article here.