Allegations by authorities in the United States that the Adani Group paid or promised a bribe to officials in Andhra Pradesh during the previous government’s tenure hurt the state’s brand image, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Friday, according to The Indian Express.
Naidu, in his first reaction to the allegations, said that the state government will study the United States’ indictment reports, and will take action against any irregularities.
Commenting on some members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance seeking action against former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Naidu said: “It is sad. Our prestige has been hurt.”
On Thursday, the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission said that in August 2021, Adani Group chief Gautam Adani met Reddy to discuss the state not having entered into a power supply agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India and asked about the “incentives” that would push the government to do so.
The commission said that Gautam Adani’s nephew Sagar Adani also met the former chief minister on September 12, 2021. Adani Group company Adani Green, along with another company named Azure Power, stood to benefit from such an agreement, according to the regulatory body.
“Post these meetings, the Adanis [Gautam and Sagar] paid or promised a bribe to AP government officials to cause the relevant Andhra Pradesh government entities to enter into [power supply agreements] with SECI for the purchase of 7,000 MW of power capacity,” the United States’ market regulator alleged in a complaint, according to The Hindu.
The United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the Adanis paid or promised Andhra Pradesh officials a bribe of $200 million, or Rs 1,750 crore. It noted that Andhra Pradesh later agreed in principle to sign a power supply agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India.
The YSR Congress Party, which Jagan Mohan Reddy heads, said that there had been no direct agreement between power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh and the Adani Group. It said that the allegations made against the state government of the time were incorrect.
An indictment by United States prosecutors further alleged that apart from Andhra Pradesh, the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir also entered into agreements with Solar Energy Corporation of India after being paid or offered bribes.
However, Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji on Thursday denied any commercial links between the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and Adani Group companies, reported The Hindu.
Senthilbalaji said that the state had signed a memorandum of understanding with Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd to procure 1500 megawatts of electricity at a low rate of Rs 2.61 per unit.
He claimed that during the tenure of the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, the state paid Rs 7 per unit for electricity. The current ruling party in Tamil Nadu is the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
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