Financial Associated Press, May 22 (editor Zhou Ziyi) A sudden incidentBaccaratharcourt1841The accusation of coal fraud is aimed atBaccaratharcourt1841India's Adani Group, a company founded by one of India's richest people, is also a very large company closely related to the Indian government.
Adani Group was shoddy in its coal deal and sold inferior coal as a more expensive high-grade fuel in past deals with an Indian state-owned power company, media reported on Thursday.
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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a non-governmental organization, obtained some documents on the matter, saying that the Adani Group had made huge profits through fraud.
In January 2014, Adani bought a batch of coal from Indonesian mining group PT Jhonlin at $28 a tonne, with a calorific value of 3500 calories per kilogram, according to the documents. The coal was later marked as 6000 kcal per kilogram, and Adani sold it to Tamil Nadu Power Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) for $92 a ton.
In addition, the organization revealed 22 additional cargo documents involving the same party in the same year, indicating that the Adani Group supplied Tangedco with a total of 1.5 million tons of shoddy low-quality coal at an average price of $86 per ton.
In the process, Adani's profits more than doubled, excluding transportation costs.
The documents deal not only with a long-standing coal scam, but also with public health and environmental problems, as the use of low-grade coal for power generation means not only high emissions, but also burning more fuel.
According to a 2022 Lancet study, more than 2 million people die from outdoor air pollution in India each year, and other studies have found a significant increase in child mortality within hundreds of miles of coal-fired power plants.
Another study 10 years ago found that India's coal-fired power plants account for about 15% of the country's total emissions, 30% of nitrogen oxides and 50% of sulfur dioxide.
However, with regard to this situation, Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA), an independent research institute in New Delhi, said, "in India, public health is certainly secondary to the interests of the power industry."
There have been doubts for a long time.
As a matter of fact, many organizations have exposed the matter, but they all came to nothing in the end.
In a 2017 report, Indian auditors questioned whether Tangedco's bidding process for imported coal would benefit large groups such as Adani.
In 2018, Arapor Lyakkam, a non-governmental organization based in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, accused the "coal trading scam" in a complaint to the Tamil Nadu vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. The organization pointed out at the time that the price of coal paid by Tangedco was higher than the market price and that the calorific value of coal mentioned in tenders and purchase orders was not in line with the actual situation.
The group added, "Tangedco has suffered heavy losses every year for the past decade. We must understand that this will directly translate into higher electricity prices for ordinary people and have a huge impact on ordinary people. "
Last year, opposition politicians in India also called for an investigation into the Adani group.
"given the market forces of coal suppliers, utilities often have no choice but to accept a decline in coal grade," said Rohit Chandra, an assistant professor of public policy at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
Adani Group responded
The findings are likely to intensify political debate in India over the power and influence enjoyed by billionaires such as Gautam Gautam Adani.
The latest revelations come as India's general election campaign draws to a close, and Narendra Modi's victory in the race for a third term as prime minister is almost certain. At this time, Adani, who has a close relationship with Modi, was exposed to fraud, which is undoubtedly a big variable on the road of Modi's re-election.
Adani denies the fraud charge. A spokesman for the group said the quality of the coal had been independently tested at loading and unloading points, customs authorities and Tangedco scientists. "as the coal supply has gone through such an elaborate quality inspection process conducted by multiple agencies in multiple locations, it is clear that the allegations of supplying low-quality coal are not only groundless, unfair and completely absurd."
The spokesman also said, "during the relevant period, the group's total coal supply to Tangedco is less than 2% of that of the latter and will not in any way affect air pollution or be responsible for the losses of India's state-owned power distribution companies."