Sri Lanka probes Adani projects after US charges

Sri Lanka has opened an investigation into the local investments of India's Adani Group in the wake of US bribery charges against its tycoon founder, government spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said Tuesday.

Jayatissa, speaking at the first cabinet briefing of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's new government, said both the finance and foreign ministries had been asked to review infrastructure projects awarded to the Indian conglomerate.

"We will take a decision about these projects based on the two reports we have commissioned," said Jayatissa, who is also the information and health minister.

Dissanayake came to power in September promising to tackle corruption and bring back stolen Sri Lankan assets said to be stashed abroad.

Billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani was charged on November 19, accused of paying bribes and hiding the payments from US investors, US prosecutors said.

The Adani Group has dismissed all bribery charges as "baseless".

With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, the Adani Group chairman has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash.

The close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow Gujarat native, is alleged to have agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.

Adani was the first foreign investor to enter the small South Asian nation in the wake of its economic meltdown in 2022.

Sri Lanka approved a $442 million Adani wind power deal in the island's northwest in February 2023 -- under the previous administration -- but the vast project is stalled by a court challenge over environmental issues.

In addition, the US government-run International Development Finance Corporation announced it was providing $553 million in funding for an Adani-led deep-sea port terminal in Colombo a year ago.

The West Container, estimated to cost over $700 million, is due to start commercial operations in February.

Dissanayake's National People's Power has said it will cancel any foreign investment projects that involved corruption in their approval.

After the US indictment last week, Kenyan President William Ruto announced the cancellation of controversial deals with the Adani Group worth over $2.5 billion, including in Nairobi's international airport.