Kumar Bahukhandi
Hyderabad:Tremors of the alleged bribery scam involving top industrialist Gautam Adani were felt in Andhra Pradesh with the previous Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy dispensation coming under scrutiny of the United States of America judicial system.
The US Department of Justice has disclosed that a high-ranking official in AP who served between May 2019 and June 2024 was offered “a corrupt payment of Rs 1,750 crore (out of total bribes of Rs 2,029 crore offered/paid for Indian government officials) in exchange of the official causing distribution companies to agree to purchase seven gigawatts of solar power from SECI under the Manufacturing Linked Project.”
Further, it said the defendant Gautam Adani personally met with the high-ranking official to advance the execution of a PSA between SECI and Andhra Pradesh’s state electricity distribution companies, including on or about August 7, 2021, on or about September 12, 2021 and on or about November 20, 2021.”
According to the complaint filed by the Securities Exchange Commission against Gautam Adani at the United States District Court Eastern District of New York, Gautam Adani met personally with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (Jagan Mohan Reddy) about the fact that AP had not entered into a PSA with SECI and the “incentives” needed to cause AP to do so in August 2021.
Significantly, the ruling NDA combine led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu maintained a stoic silence on Thursday though it earlier made serious allegations of corruption against Jagan Mohan Reddy. The TD leadership sought to tread a cautious approach as any stand taken against the power sale agreement (PSA) would lead to political and economic complications.
On the political front, it appears, the Telugu Desam or its ally the Jana Sena of Pawan Kalyan did not want to cause discomfort to another ally the BJP, while on the economics side, the state would have to forego the opportunity of getting solar power at a cheaper rate of Rs 2.40 paise per unit against the higher rate of Rs 5 plus of the conventional energy, if they cancel the PSA. The YSRC, on the other hand, defended the Jagan Mohan Reddy government signing the agreement to purchase cheap power though it was silent on the bribery allegations.
The indictment report mentioned that Gautam Adani’s interactions with “high rank official” resulted in AP discoms entering into a PSA with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on December 2021 to purchase 2.3 gw of solar power which was considered as the largest quantum of power procured by any Indian state so far. Gautam Adani allegedly paid or promised a bribe to AP government officials for AP discoms to enter into PSA with SECI for the purchase of 7,000 mw of power and the payment or promise to pay bribes, was reflected in the internal communication to Gautam Adani Green and Azure where the AP had agreed to buy power from SECI, the report added. Subsequently, the SECI executed corresponding Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the subsidiaries of the Adani Group and the US-based issuer, committing to procure solar energy for Andhra Pradesh and other states.
The report stated that the scam generated significant profits for Adani-linked entities while misleading the US investors through fraudulent claims of compliance with anti-corruption measures. The US Department of Justice alleged that the discussions and plans were reportedly documented through electronic messaging and internal presentations by the Adani executives detailing the bribe amounts and the methods to conceal the payments.
The US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Breon Peace stated, “The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and lied to the investors and banks. This office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace.”
On the other hand, the Adani Group, in a release on Thursday, stated that the allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against the directors of Adani Green were baseless and denied.
N. Vamsi Srinivas is a senior journalist who reports socio-political and economic stories. He likes investigative reporting. He is Chief of Bureaus for Telangana and AP of a English Daily.
