Kenyan President William Ruto cancelled two deals with Adani Group worth about $2.6 billion over alleged corruption, hours after company founder Gautam Adani was charged by the US authorities in a separate bribery scheme.
Ruto ordered his ministers to “immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process” involving the billionaire’s companies to manage the nation’s biggest airport and build high-voltage power-transmission lines. “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,” Ruto told lawmakers in a state-of-the-nation address in the capital, Nairobi, on Thursday. The decision was “based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations,” he said. Adani Group wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Adani Airport Holdings earlier this year sought a 30-year concession worth $1.85 billion to operate Nairobi’s main airport, while another unit in the vast conglomerate secured a $736 million contract to construct and operate power lines in the East African nation.
While Ruto previously endorsed the transmission pact, saying Kenya urgently needs private investment for capital-intensive projects, his govt faced public criticism that the awards of the contracts were opaque. The President had no choice but to abandon the deals after the US indictment of Adani, according to Kenyan lawmaker John Kaguchia.
“With Adani having been indicted in the US, it technically becomes impossible for Kenya to continue dealing with the group,” Kaguchia said on Citizen TV, a Nairobi-based broadcaster. “If it continues, then the US will discontinue all support, any financial partnership we’ve had with them, including the IMF and World Bank.”
In his speech, Ruto reiterated a previous pledge to fight graft and wastage of public resources in the country that ranks 126th out of 180 on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index. “Of the many difficult assignments I have undertaken, the fight against corruption is one I now take on with resolve going forward,” Ruto said.
Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets earlier this year to protest against govt mismanagement and excessive taxation. More than 60 people died in the demonstrations. Bloomberg