World Development Movement, London, 08 October 2008
British bank Royal Bank of Scotland has sold its shares in Global Coal Management Resources (GCM ltd), the British company behind the Phulbari open-cast mine project in Bangladesh. In August 2008, 110 organisations from across the world wrote to RBS calling on it to withdraw its investment from the disastrous Phulbari project. The British bank has now responded by selling its shares, held through subsidiary ABN Amro, and telling campaigners RBS is “no longer an investor in GCM Resources”. The World Development Movement’s Policy Officer, Tim Jones, said: “RBS has joined Barclays and the Asian Development Bank in distancing themselves from this mine which would destroy the livelihood of tens of thousands of people. It is now up to Gareth Thomas and the UK government to do the same.” If it went ahead, the Phulbari open-cast mine would force more than 40,000 people to leave their homes and threaten the water supply of a further 100,000 people.
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Kate Blagojevic Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345
Email: kate.blagojevic@wdm.org.uk
