The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed confirmation from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that it has pulled out of Burma.
PwC had featured on a ‘Dirty List’ of companies directly or indirectly funding the regime in Burma, which is published by the Burma Campaign UK.
A member of the PwC network of firms had an ownership interest in a Burmese firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Hla Tun Consultants Ltd. Members of the PwC network referred clients wanting advice on investing in Burma to this firm. PwC has not revealed which member had the interest, but has confirmed it was not the UK member firm of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network.
In a letter to the Burma Campaign UK this week PwC Senior Partner Kieran Poynter stated:
Ӆwe were aware that another member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network of firms, which held an ownership interest in an entity operating in Burma, was re-evaluating their ownership in this entity. I am now able to confirm that we have been informed that this ownership interest has since been divested.”
“This is excellent news,” said John Jackson, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “Foreign investment has played a key role in keeping Burma’s dictatorship in power. With PwC pulling out yet another potential source of revenue for the regime has been cut off.”
The move comes less than a month after tobacco giant B.A.T announced it was pulling out of Burma following a high profile campaign by the Burma Campaign UK. Several other companies have cut their ties with Burma this year after being placed on the Burma Campaign’s ‘Dirty List’. They include WPP, Kuoni, Abercrombie & Kent, JJB, Italian sportswear giant Lotto, Kappa, Travelsphere and Intrepid Travel.