Kirin Brewery Company’s operations in Myanmar are back in the headlines. The Japanese beverage giant has launched an independent review of its Burmese brewing operations, Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery.

Both breweries are joint ventures with Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a conglomerate owned by current and former members of the country’s military. Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory will be undertaking what Kirin has labelled a “strategic review” to “make improvements”.

While the brewing conglomerate has previously ruled out leaving Myanmar, it is likely there will be a shakeup of how the JVs are run – particularly in terms of financial transparency and the relationship with the Burmese armed forces.

Kirin’s JVs with MEHL first faced widespread scrutiny in 2018. An Amnesty International investigation found that Myanmar Brewery gave 30,000 USD in donations to the country’s military in the midst of an outbreak of anti-Rohingya violence in 2017. Adding to the accusations by Amnesty International, a United Nations report accused MEHL of having “strong military associations” in a report in 2019.

MEHL is not a specialist brewery or drinks producer: it is involved in a range of sectors and industries, including jade and ruby mining.

The UN also went out of their way to encourage foreign entities like Kirin to suspend their relations with military-connected companies.

Most recently, Kirin’s troubles became more widely known in beer circles globally. Campaigners leveraged coverage of Kirin’s acquisition of New Belgium Brewing to maximise criticism of the beer conglomerate, and it appears have successfully forced the larger brewer’s hand at taking some kind of action.