President William Ruto has directed Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and his Energy counterpart Opiyo Wandayi to end the ongoing public-private partnership discussion with Adani Group Holdings.
Speaking on Thursday, November 21, during his State of the Nation address in Parliament, the Head of State revealed that his directive was influenced by the provision of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption.
"I have stated in the past, and I reiterate today, that in the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action," stated the Head of State.
According to Ruto, the decision to stop the government's contractual engagements with the Adani Group stemmed from key transparency considerations that the deal had violated.
''Accordingly, I now direct - in furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, and based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations - 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,” he announced.
President Ruto's announcement on the Kenya-Adani deal came less than a day after the company's directors were indictment in an ongoing case at the United States of America's federal court over a Ksh32 billion corruption allegation.
Gautam Adani, the group CEO, along with seven other executives in the multibillion-dollar company, were indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in New York for bribing Indian government officials.
According to the indictment, the Adani Group has for years bribed officials to lie to US investors and acquire green energy supply contracts for the group’s Adani Green subsidiary.
According to a report by CNN, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller stated that the bribes were to facilitate the officials lying to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars and to obstruct justice.
''This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 (approximately Ksh32 billion) million in bribes to Indian government officials. These offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors,” she stated.
Ruto's directive comes as a spat on the Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi who earlier, while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday, November 21, defended the government on the Adani engagement amid court battles.
Wandayi while indicating that the government would have proceeded with the deal, insisted that due diligence had been done on the Adani Group.
''On the matter of Adani's indictment, under section 41 of the Private Public Partnership(PPP) Act, we have an elaborate mechanism for undertaking due diligence. The PPP Directorate domiciled under the Treasury in coordination with KETRACO conducted a due diligence exercise on Adani Energy Solution in two phases,’’ Wandayi stated.
