Opp reacts to Gautam Adani’s indictment by US Department of Justice in bribery case
SHILLONG, Nov 22: After a US court’s indictment of billionaire Gautam Adani and his associates, the state unit of the Congress has cautioned the Meghalaya government to tread cautiously as it plans to invest heavily in the solar power sector.
The US Department of Justice issued a five-count criminal indictment of Adani and several of his business associates for promising more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts, conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud, and orchestrating “a multi-billion-dollar scheme” to defraud US investors and global financial institutions.
Congress leader Manuel Badwar on Friday told reporters the party is cautioning the state government against entering into any venture with the Adani Group.
He blamed the alleged scams of the Adani Group for high electricity prices. He said according to the indictment, bribes were paid to ensure DISCOMS bought overpriced solar power, with the costs passed on to consumers.
“Additionally, past accusations of over-invoicing coal and power equipment also inflated electricity prices. For instance, coal exported from Indonesia to Mundra, Gujarat, saw a mysterious 50% price hike before reaching India. This overpriced coal, purchased by Adani Power, led to a doubling of electricity tariffs in Gujarat between 2021 and 2022,” Badwar said.
State Congress general secretary Sanjay Das said these are major accusations against Adani but he is being shielded by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
“Why is it that Chief Ministers of opposition parties are arrested for alleged corruption involving Rs 31 crore or Rs 100 crore but a close ally of the Prime Minister can roam free even after facing charges of corruption involving Rs 2,000 crore?” the Congress asked.
The party has already demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into these charges of bribery.
“We also know that NPP is being protected by the BJP-led government for various accusations by the people of the state. Illegal coal transport is one. We want to ensure that the state government does not become a pawn in the bigger scheme of things of BJP that ultimately impacts the people of our state,” Das said.