DHAKA (Reuters) – A Bangladesh government-appointed committee analyzing energy technology contracts, together with one with India’s Adani Energy (NS:.NS), has urged the interim authorities to rent a worldwide authorized agency to make sure a radical and clear investigation into offers beneath former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
The committee, led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, wants extra time to analyse each solicited and unsolicited contracts from 2009 to 2024, a senior official with direct data of the matter informed Reuters on Monday.
“External expertise will be crucial for conducting a comprehensive investigation that could potentially lead to the renegotiation or cancellation of certain agreements in line with international arbitration standards,” mentioned the official.
Most of the reviewed contracts have sparked controversy attributable to their monetary phrases, environmental issues, and doubts about long-term sustainability.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group, has been indicted by U.S. prosecutors for his alleged involvement in a $265 million bribery scheme geared toward influencing Indian officers. The fees have despatched shockwaves by his international enterprise empire, valued at $142 billion and spanning industries from ports to soybeans.
Aside from the Adani energy deal, the committee can be reviewing a joint-venture take care of a Chinese language firm that constructed a 1,320 MW coal-fired plant in Bangladesh, and 6 different agreements with native enterprise teams.
Final month, sources conversant in the matter informed Reuters that Bangladesh was scrutinising its contract with Adani Energy, because it was charging Bangladesh a charge practically 27% increased than these of India’s different non-public producers.
Adani Energy not too long ago diminished the electrical energy provide to Bangladesh over an unpaid $800 million energy invoice.
A Bangladesh Energy Improvement Board official mentioned that whereas paying such a big sum unexpectedly isn’t possible, the federal government plans to considerably enhance its month-to-month funds to Adani Energy, beginning with as much as $100 million monthly.
Adani Energy, which operates a devoted 1,600-megawatt (MW) Godda plant in Jharkhand, India, has been supplying electrical energy to Bangladesh since 2022.
Bangladesh has been struggling to pay its payments attributable to pricey gasoline and items imports since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The political turmoil that led to the ouster of Hasina in August has additionally compounded its troubles.
