VIJAYAWADA: The serious fraud charges brought by a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, against the Adani Group and its Chairman Gautam Adani has put Andhra Pradesh under the spotlight.
The court charges revealed in an indictment document dated November 20 mention only an unnamed “Foreign Official #1” as being offered a bribe of $228 million (nearly Rs 1,750 crore) to facilitate a power purchase agreement with the State of Andhra Pradesh. But the original complaint by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (USSEC) directly charges Adani as having met then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (YS Jagan Mohan Reddy) in this regard in August 2021.
In a statement, the Adani Group strongly denied the charges of bribery, calling them baseless. The YSRCP — in a three-page note — has said the accusations are incorrect. The current NDA-led State government is ‘looking into’ the allegations.
In the indictment document, Gautam Adani and co-accused Sagar R Adani are alleged to have offered or paid approximately Rs 2,029 crore ($265 million) in bribes to secure power purchase agreements (PPA) with various State government power distribution companies (DISCOMs). Adani Green Energy Limited had entered into an agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for sale of 8 Gigawatt solar power.
According to the indictment document and USSEC complaint seen by TNIE, various State governments refused to purchase power from SECI as prices were too high.
At the time Gautam Adani, assisted by Sagar Adani, intervened and paid or promised to pay huge amounts of bribes to government officials in various States.
‘Bribe prompted AP Discoms to purchase power from SECI’
"In August 2021, Gautam Adani met the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh about the fact that Andhra Pradesh had not entered into a Power Supply Agreement with SECI and the “incentives” needed to cause Andhra Pradesh to do so. At or in connection with that meeting, Gautam Adani paid or promised a bribe to Andhra Pradesh government officials to cause the relevant Andhra Pradesh government entities to enter into Power Supply Agreements with SECI for the purchase of 7,000 MW of power capacity," USSEC alleged in its complaint and demanded jury trial against defendants Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani.
“Shortly after Gautam Adani’s meeting with Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister, and the payment or promise to pay bribes, communications internal to Adani Green and Azure reflected that Andhra Pradesh had agreed to buy power from SECI.
Around the same time, Andhra Pradesh agreed in principle to execute a Power Supply Agreement with SECI that would directly benefit Adani Green and Azure. And, within weeks, the Andhra Pradesh government was publicly quoted as saying, “In the Cabinet meeting held last month, it was decided to accept SECI’s offer. After deliberation, the State decided to tap 7,000 MW in the first phase.” In other words, the bribes paid or promised worked,” the complaint stated.
The indictment document repeatedly mentioned that the bribes paid or promised to be paid were mentioned in the internal records documented by Adani Green. It also stated that the bribe prompted Andhra Pradesh power distribution companies to agree to purchase 7 GW of solar power from SECI under the manufacturing-linked project.
