Kenya's President forced to cancel Adani's over $2.5bn deal

By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI Kenya

Kenya’s president, William Ruto said Thursday he has cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Indian tycoon Gautam Adani after U.S. bribery and fraud indictments against one of Asia's richest men.

During his State of the Nation Address, the president said the decision was attributed to credible evidence from the relevant agencies. 

"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," said Ruto. 

Adani had proposed a Ksh.260 billion deal to renovate the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for a 30-year period and provide Ksh.95 billion to develop the country's transmission lines, all under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.  

The widely criticized deal had sparked anti-Adani protests in Kenya and a strike by airport workers, who said it would lead to degraded working conditions and job losses in some cases.

Kenya’s president, William Ruto

The Adani group had also been awarded a deal to construct power transmission lines in Kenya, East Africa's business hub.

Also Thursday, Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi told a parliamentary committee there had been no bribery or corruption involved on Kenya's part in signing that deal.

U.S. prosecutors indicted Adani this week on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in India by concealing that it was facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme. He was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.