- Kenya’s President, William Ruto, has announced the cancellation of the country’s engagements with India’s Adani Group in the Energy & the Transport sectors.
- Ruto made the announcement during the State of the Nation Address.
- US prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani and other executives with a bribery scheme allegedly involving over US$250 million in payments to Indian officials to secure solar energy supply contracts.
On Oct 11th, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) announced successful signing of a Project Agreement with Adani Energy Solutions Ltd paving way for the Indian conglomerate to raise funding of US$ 736.0M in form of debt & equity for transmission projects. The funds would be repaid over the 30-year period.
Adani Group was also earmarked for the planned expansion of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) through a public private partnership arrangement.
Kenya’s National Treasury stated that both projects were at due diligence stage with Adani and will therefore have no bearing on the fiscus.
The US indictment accuses Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain of securities and wire fraud, alleging they secured $3 billion of US and international financing through false statements.
The charges claim the defendants raised capital via two dollar-denominated syndicate loans exceeding $2 billion and two Rule 144A bond offerings totaling more than $1 billion. These bonds, underwritten by international financial institutions, were marketed to US investors.
All of Adani’s contracts were expected to yield $2 billion in profits over two decades.
Cover up
The indictment also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable energy company with New York Stock Exchange-listed securities, alongside Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor. They are charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery for one of the world’s largest solar projects.
Prosecutors allege that Cabanes, Agarwal, Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal obstructed investigations by agreeing to delete emails, messages, and other materials tied to the bribery scheme.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
