Adani offered Rs 1,750 crore as bribe to a govt official in Andhra Pradesh

In December 2021, power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh signed PPAs (power purchase agreements) with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) under the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) to purchase 7 gigawatt (or 7,000 megawatt) of solar energy from the SECI.

The SECI was finding it difficult to find buyers for solar energy at the high prices that the public-sector company had agreed to pay the Adani group. It was therefore in Gautam Adani’s interest to persuade state government officials to agree to the terms — and hence the offer of a staggering bribe of Rs 1,750 crore was offered to a single officer in Andhra Pradesh.

Even more damaging, the US court document that is now in the public domain mentions that the chairman of the Adani group personally called on the government official — identified as ‘Foreign Official #1’ — at least thrice to advance the execution of a PSA (power sale agreement) between the state electricity distribution companies and the SECI.

The meetings with the unnamed official took place on 7 August, 12 September and 20 November 2021, the document mentions.

The fact that ‘Foreign Official #1’ is not one of the accused and has not been named suggests that the official is among those who cooperated with the US investigation and furnished some of the relevant details. It is not immediately clear whether the official is likely to depose in court against Gautam Adani and whether he has turned ‘approver’.

The document also refrains from naming ‘Co-conspirator 1’, a UK citizen residing in Hong Kong, and ‘Co-conspirator 2’, an Indian employee of the Mauritius-based US issuer.

However, several power distribution companies in the states of Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh had also signed PPAs for solar power with the SECI between October 2021 and February 2022. Following these PPAs, Adani Green was able to sign a PSA with the SECI at inflated rates.

US prosecutors allege that the bribe money Adani offered was in fact raised in the United States, from US investors, keeping them in the dark about the operation and violating US federal laws.