Kenyan law stipulates that a firm taking part in a Privately-Initiated PPP (Public Private Partnership) should not be corrupt, should not have engaged in acts of corruption, and should not have been sued or convicted for corruption.
Some Corruption Cases Facing Adani
CBI files criminal case against Adani Enterprises
- The CBI added that Virender Singh and GP Gupta had favoured Adani Enterprises in getting the contract
- CBI move comes amid mounting scrutiny on Adani’s Carmichael project from environmentalists
Shaswati Das
Updated16 Jan 2020, 11:00 PM IST
A file photo of CBI headquarters in Delhi.
(Mint)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a criminal case against Adani Enterprises Ltd for colluding with officials of the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) to unfairly win a contract for supplying coal to an Andhra Pradesh government-owned company. The agency named former NCCF chairman Virender Singh, its then managing director G.P. Gupta and former senior adviser S.C. Singhal in the first information report (FIR). Adani Enterprises and the NCCF officials were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
CBI’s latest move comes amid mounting scrutiny on Adani’s Carmichael project in Australia from Greta Thunberg and other environmental activists. The project in the Galilee Basin of Queensland is facing fresh attacks from environmentalists as Australia suffers catastrophic bushfires that have killed 28 people and caused massive devastation to wildlife and the environment.
In the FIR, India’s federal investigation agency alleged that Singh and Gupta favoured Ahmedabad-based Adani Enterprises in getting the contract when Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp. Ltd floated the tender in 2010 for the supply of 600,000 tonnes of coal. The probe agency also alleged that Adani Enterprises used a proxy company to get the supply contract. NCCF had received bids from six companies—Adani Enterprises, Maheswari Brothers Coal Ltd, Vyom Trade Links Pvt. Ltd, Swarna Projects Pvt. Ltd, Gupta Coal India Ltd and Kyori Oremin Ltd.
“Post tender negotiation was done by senior officials of NCCF to give undue favour to Adani Enterprises Ltd despite it not qualifying the tender (terms),” the agency’s FIR said. “Instead of cancelling the bid of Adani Enterprises Ltd, the senior management of NCCF conveyed the offer margin to the company through one of its representatives, Munish Sehgal, who was sitting in the NCCF head office. It is prima facie evident that when the bids were being processed at the NCCF head office in Delhi, a representative of Adani Enterprises was informed regarding their imminent rejection due to non-submission of NCCF margin, and also that MBCL (Maheswari Brothers), the eligible bidder, quoted 2.25% margin.”
CBI, which is likely to soon issue summons to those named in the FIR, has further alleged that Adani Enterprises gave an unsecured loan of ₹16.81 crore to Vyom Trade Links in 2008-09. Bank guarantees of Adani Enterprises and Vyom Trade Links were also issued by “the same branch of the State Bank of India and at the same time”. An Adani Enterprises spokesperson said the subject matter is an “old one”, adding that the company has complied with the process, formalities and relevant laws for the coal supply.
“The company has not done anything wrong in supply of coal. It’s a preliminary investigation report only. The company shall respond to the same and shall also put forth the factual position to the authority,” the spokesperson added.
The CBI added that Virender Singh and GP Gupta had favoured Adani Enterprises in getting the contract.CBI move comes amid mounting scrutiny on Adani’s Carmichael project from environmentalists
www.livemint.com
CBI Books Adani Power, Other Power-generating Companies in Coal Supply Scandal Case
Prudhviraj Rupavath | 21 Mar 2020
The investigating agency has alleged that the corruption caused a loss to the tune of Rs 97 crore to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has
booked 25 companies including those of Adani group, Vedanta Limited and Jindal group among others, and four officials of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited on corruption charges relating to supply of coal from MCL. The investigating agency has alleged that the corruption caused the public sector unit a loss to the tune of Rs 97 crore. Following the levelling of corruption charges, experts have raised questions on how the Adani group is being able to grab new power projects despite
several allegations of coal-related corruption.
According to the CBI FIR, during 2012 to 2017, the MCL officials allegedly entered into “criminal conspiracy with the 25 accused coal consumers and unknown others with an intention to defraud in the matter relating to supply of coal by MCL through rail rake under Fuel Supply Agreements (FSA) between MCL and the consumers.” For Adani Group, this case comes as a double whammy as one of its subsidiary, Adani Enterprises was
booked in a case by the CBI in January this year, along with a former chairman of National Consumer Cooperative Federation for alleged irregularities in floating tenders for supply of coal to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) in July 2010.
Commending the CBI for acting upon the coal supply-related scandals, Padamjit Singh, chairman of the All India Power Engineers’ Federation, told
NewsClick, “Corruption in coal supply to power stations results in increasing the cost of electricity to power consumers while filling corporate coffers.” He added that it is anomalous that the same Adani group with two FIRs to its credit has recently secured a power project of 1,320 MW from Madhya Pradesh government. In this respect, Singh demanded that the Madhya Pradesh government should cancel its power purchasing agreement in the Chhindwara project with Adani group.
The FIR, which was filed based on information from reliable sources, has further alleged that the accused public servants abused their respective positions by allowing supply of coal to these consumers without adhering to the provisions of the FSAs, falsified the records of MCL and did not recover the due performance incentives. Among the
companies accused in this case are Adani Power Limited, two units of Adani Maharashtra Power Limited, two companies of Vedanta Limited, Talwandi Saboo Power Limited and two companies of Jindal group, among others.
As per relevant provisions of FSA under new coal distribution policy of India, “coal consumers lifting coal by rail have to submit financial coverage bank guarantee (FCBG) for 15 days of coal supplied which is their acquired contracted quantity (ACQ) subject to minimum amount equivalent to one rake load. However, coal consumers have to deposit 100% in advance of the coal value intimidated by the seller within 48 hours of placement of rake.”
“By not adhering to the provisions of FSA,” Padamjit Singh alleged, “these companies have not only paid advances to the MCL for supply of coal but could have made profits from distribution companies by selling power at inflated coal rates to get higher tariffs.” The CBI has booked the accused MCL officials and the coal consumer companies on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
https://www.newsclick.in/CBI-books-...generating-companies-coal-supply-scandal-case
Adani pleads guilty to giving 'false or misleading documents to an administering authority', fined $20k
Exclusive by
Josh Robertson and
Jessica Rendall
Posted Wed 5 Feb 2020 at 10:36pmWednesday 5 Feb 2020 at 10:36pm, updated Thu 6 Feb 2020 at 9:55amThursday 6 Feb 2020 at 9:55am
Adani protesters attend Brisbane Magistrate Court where Adani is set to plead guilty to misleading the department of environment.(ABC News: Ashleigh Stevenson)
Mining giant Adani has been fined $20,000 after pleading guilty to providing false or misleading information to Queensland's environmental regulator.
Key points:
- No conviction was recorded against the company Adani Mining Pty Ltd, in the Brisbane Magistrates Court
- It belatedly declared clearing land on its mine site after environmentalists complained to the Government
- The company says it has been prosecuted for an "an administrative error"
No conviction was recorded. The company was facing a fine of up to $3 million if convicted under the Environmental Protection Act.
Magistrate Stephen Courtney said in sentencing that "the company is a large one, it's well resourced". "This mistake just should not have happened," Mr Courtney said.
In court papers, the
Department of Environment and Science (DES) says Adani filed its annual return in March 2018 with a graph declaring it cleared no land on the Carmichael mine site, north-west of Clermont, in 2017-18.The DES alleged it became aware of the offence six months later.
It alleged Adani "knew or ought reasonably to have known [the document] was false or misleading" because it had planned and carried out land clearing before and during the reporting period. On September 6, 2018, conservation group Coast and Country raised land clearing allegations with the State Government, citing satellite imagery. State and federal environment department officials then inspected the site within days. Almost two weeks later, Adani amended its return to declare a total of 132 hectares cleared, including 5.8 hectares in the reporting period.
An Adani Mining spokeswoman said the department had "chosen to prosecute Adani Mining for an administrative error … which we self-reported".
"The prosecution is proceeding despite the fact all relevant works were legal, and fully complied with our project conditions, and despite there being no environmental harm," the spokeswoman said.
"Improvements to internal processes were introduced at the time the administrative error was discovered and reported by us to ensure paperwork errors of this nature are avoided in the future. "We will continue to participate in the relevant legal processes required to resolve this matter."
Other similar cases facing Adani can be found at https://www.adaniwatch.org/adani_in_the_courts_and_under_investigation
