Kenya’s President William Ruto has directed the Ministries of Transport and Energy to immediately cancel the ongoing deals proposed by the Adani Group to take over the country’s infrastructure in the energy and aviation industries.
During his State of the Nation Address at the Parliament buildings on Thursday, President Ruto said the decision was attributed to adequate evidence from international partners and other relevant agencies.
He noted that the ongoing deals with the Adani Group could not continue with such overwhelming evidence.
“Based on the information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations – I direct that the procuring agencies within the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA Expansion Public Private Partnership transaction, as well as the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line Public Private Partnership contract, and immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” said Ruto.
The Indian billionaire Gautam Adani had proposed a Ksh. 260 billion deal to renovate the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for a period of 30 years and also provide Ksh. 95 billion to develop the country’s transmission lines, all under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) plan.
Earlier, Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi maintained that the Kenya-Adani would still continue despite the graft allegations.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Energy Committee over the controversial Ketraco-Adani deal, Wandayi said the government conducted two phases of due diligence exercise on Adani including a documentary review process where the company demonstrated technical, legal and financial capacity for the construction of electricity transmission lines and substations.
“We had no knowledge of any other adverse matters that could have come to light and therefore we are proceeding on the basis of the outcome of the rigorous due diligence conducted by the contracting authority in line with the law. We can’t tell because they are not related to this project and therefore we will be engaging in speculation. There has been no case of bribery or corruption in as far as this PIP of Adani is concerned,” Wandayi told the Parliamentary Energy Committee on Thursday.
Adani was indicted by the US Department of Justice, alongside his nephew Sagar Adani, for coordinating a bribery scheme involving more than $250 million in payments to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts.
The US Department of Justice said the fraudulent scheme targeted US investors, enabling Adani Green Energy Ltd. to raise $175 million under false pretences. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed parallel charges against Adani executives and Cyril Cabanes of Azure Power Global.
In January 2023, US-based Hindenburg Research accused Adani of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud,” The report led to an $80 billion decline in Adani’s net worth, though his fortune currently stands at $85.5 billion as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
