The Congress on Friday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the “over-invoicing on import of electrical equipment/ machinery by a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, a leading power company.” The party alleged that the Modi government was going slow in the case.
Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken stressed that “investigating this practice is critical as the price of this equipment has a direct bearing on the price paid by the common man for electricity.”
‘Reduce power cost’
He said there should be an “immediate reduction in the power costs by up to a factor of ₹2 per unit wherever these companies are producing and transmitting electricity.”
Mr. Maken also demanded that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission “should exercise its powers…to conduct investigation and reopen the affairs of all private power generating entities to identify all such cases of fake overpricing of all such equipment, and further bring down electricity tariffs in the country.”
UPA probe
The Congress-led UPA government, Mr. Maken said, had on February 5, 2013, initiated an enquiry into the practice of over-invoicing on import of electrical equipment by a subsidiary of the Adani Enterprises Ltd. On May 15, 2014 – 11 days before the Modi government was sworn into power — a 97-page show cause notice was issued to the company.
On August 15, this year, The Guardian ’s Australia edition published the contents of the show cause notice. In an article entitled ‘Adani mining giant faces financial fraud claims as it bids for Australian coal loan’, it said, “A global mining giant seeking public funds to develop one of the world’s largest coal mines in Australia has been accused of fraudulently siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars of borrowed money into overseas tax havens.
“Indian conglomerate the Adani Group is expecting a legal decision in the “near future” in connection with allegations it inflated invoices for an electricity project in India to shift huge sums of money into offshore bank accounts.”
The show cause notice says, “The modus operandi followed was that for power sector, imports.. are sent directly to India, the documents are routed through an intermediary entity created by them in the UAE.. Intelligence further suggested that from UAE, while actual invoice value is remitted to respective OEMs, the extra amount is routed to the Mauritius account of the parent company.”
Mr. Maken, who provided these details, alleged that “with the change of guard, the BJP-led NDA government decided to go slow on this important matter, and as a result, till today, the investigation has not reached its logical end. Moreover, Shri Gautam Adani, chief of Adani Group,...an accused in the ongoing investigation, is often seen accompanying Shri Modi on various foreign tours.”
Meanwhile, an Adani Group spokesperson, denying what it called “the motivated statements and reports” said, “Adani Group is aware of the investigations being conducted by the DRI, and has fully co-operated, and shall continue to co-operate with the investigating agencies. Adani Group continues to align its vision with the national priorities of infrastructure development, food security, energy security and clean energy.”
The Adani spokesperson also said, “… all our transactions are always conducted within the framework of extant regulatory guidelines and provisions. It is a standard procedure for the Group to follow International Competitive Bidding (ICD) route for major capital expenditures to ensure transparency and competitiveness in the process.
