Kenyan President William Ruto cancels proposed deals with Adani Group

Kenyan President William Ruto cancels proposed deals with Adani Group

Kenyan President William Ruto said on November 21 he had ordered the cancellation of procurement process to expand the country's main airport, in which the government was considering a proposal by Adani Group.

Ruto said he had also directed the cancellation of a more than $700 million deal the energy ministry had signed with a unit of the Adani Group to construct power transmission lines.

"I have directed agencies within the ministry of transport and within the ministry of energy and petroleum to immediately cancel the ongoing procurement," Ruto said in his state of the nation address, attributing the decision to "new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations".

Adani Energy Solutions, in October, signed a 30-year, $736 million public-private partnership deal with the Kenya Electrical Transmission Company. A court suspended the contract in the same month.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani was indicted by US prosecutors for his alleged role in a $265-million scheme to bribe Indian officials. Adani Group denied the allegations as "baseless".

Earlier on November 21, Kenya's energy minister said there was no bribery or corruption involved in the award of a contract to a unit of Adani Group to build power lines in the East African nation.

Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi had said the deal was above board.

"There has been no case of corruption or bribery as far as PIP (Privately-initiated proposal) with Adani Energy Solutions is concerned," he told Kenya's Senate committee on finance.

US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani who is director at Adani Green, and six others with alleged bribery and fraud related to renewable energy projects in India that benefitted the tycoon's company and Azure Power, which was listed on the NYSE until late 2023.

Adani and his executives have also been accused of making false and misleading statements to investors and lenders in the United States regarding the company's anti-bribery commitments and practices while raising money from them.

Adani Group companies lost about $27 billion in market value on Thursday after US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani in the alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Late Wednesday, US authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials for contracts expected to yield profit of $2 billion over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power project.

With inputs from Reuters