Interra Resources Limited asked for its shares to be suspended from trading on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) on Thursday amid allegations it has been supplying fuel to Myanmar’s junta.
The firm said on Thursday it was answering the SGX’s queries and needed more time to respond. It added that the request for a suspension did not imply that there had been any wrongdoing.
Interra said it would ask for the trading suspension to be lifted when there was clarity over the SGX’s queries.
The Justice for Myanmar (JFM) activist group reported on January 29 that Interra, through its subsidiary in Myanmar, had supplied 2.3 million barrels of oil worth over US$150 million to the junta-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) since the 2021 coup.
MOGE, the regime’s largest source of foreign revenue, has been sanctioned by the EU and US for its role in funding the junta.
State-owned Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE) controls fuel refining, storage and distribution in Myanmar.
The fuel allows the regime to conduct airstrikes and move its forces and weapons in a conflict that has displaced more than 3.3 million people.
As a Singapore-based company, Interra is not subject to western sanctions.
But the SGX can suspend companies that violate international sanctions and it has previously targeted a company that traded with Myanmar’s military.
Singapore remains the top investor in Myanmar, with the city-state often used as a conduit by non-Singaporean firms to bypass western sanctions.
According to the junta-controlled Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, US$456 million in investment came from Singapore to Myanmar last year.
JFM called for coordinated international sanctions against MOGE, MPE and other military-linked firms, urging Singapore to block junta access to funds, arms and fuel.
It called on the SGX to take regulatory action against Interra for trading with MOGE, accusing the Singaporean firm of complicity in the junta’s crimes.
