Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry on Sunday said that a power plant project given to the embattled Adani Group in the island nation is like a “government-to-government” kind of deal, The Hindu reported.
Last month, Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment had approved two wind power plants to be set up in Mannar and Pooneryn cities.
The deal had led to a controversy in June after Ceylon Electricity Board chairperson MMC Ferdinando told a parliamentary committee that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “pressured” former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award the wind power project to the Adani Group.
The senior official later retracted his statement and quit from his post after Rajapaksa “vehemently denied” the claims made by him.
But in an interview with The Hindu, Sabry on Sunday said that the Indian government had identified the conglomerate led by tycoon Gautam Adani for the deals, which also includes building a $700 million terminal project at Sri Lanka’s largest port.
When asked if the Adani Group secured projects in Sri Lanka because of the support of the prime minister’s office, the foreign minister said: “Not really. In our case, of course, we were keen on an Indian investor to come in, so who the Indian investor was for the Indian government and the authorities to decide and choose and send it to us. And then we will have our own feasibility and fact-finding, and if we are happy, we will take it.”
Sabry said the island nation has had no complaints with the Adani Group so far.
“For us, there is absolutely nothing to worry [about], because it is a transparent process and a government-to-government kind of a project,” he told The Hindu. “And then of course G2G doesn’t mean that the government gets involved and is doing business, it means the government identifies the entities. So that is the process which had been followed in the Adani’s coming into Sri Lanka.”
The minister also said that the Sri Lankan government is “very very confident” that the Adani Group will complete the projects undertaken in the country, despite sharp falls in the conglomerate’s shares.
Adani Group’s seven stock market-listed companies have lost more than $140 billion in market value since a January 24 report by American firm Hindenburg Research alleged that the conglomerate improperly used offshore tax havens and manipulated stocks. The Adani Group has rejected the allegations and denied any wrongdoing.
“This speculation on the stock market is not a new thing, this happens all over the world,” Sabry said on Sunday. “So, we are not panicking at all... And this will become a precursor for much more investment to come from so many diverse investment institutions in India. So we are definitely not worried.”
India’s Supreme Court has set up an independent panel to investigate the allegations against the Adani Group. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India to investigate any possible lapses in securities law or other regulatory disclosures.
The court passed the directions while hearing petitions on losses that investors had suffered due to the stock market rout.
Opposition parties have also been demanding an inquiry into the business practices of Gautam Adani, saying that he enjoys close ties with Modi.
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