FCC

OCCRP report alleges massive coal supply scam involving Adani

2024-05-24

Revelations by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) about the low quality of coal supplied by the Adani group have caused a stir in political and bureaucratic circles. The issue of low-quality coal and the resulting environmental degradation has been repeatedly highlighted in recent times in Tamil Nadu. This expos? alleges that at least 24 shipments, which arrived on the Tamil Nadu coast between January and October 2014, were initially priced as low-quality coal but were ultimately sold by the Adani group to the State's power utility at triple the cost.

On January 9, 2014, the bulk carrier MV Kalliopi L docked at Ennore port after a two-week voyage from Indonesia. It was carrying 69,925 tonnes of coal destined for the State's power company, according to OCCRP. However, the paperwork for the cargo took a more circuitous route, passing through the British Virgin Islands and Singapore. During this journey, the price of the coal more than tripled, reaching $91.91 per tonne. The quality also inexplicably changed from low-grade steam coal to the clean, high-quality version sought by power companies, OCCRP claimed.

Before reaching Tangedco, the paperwork for the shipment passed through a middleman: Supreme Union Investors, a company registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Supreme Union Investors issued an invoice for the same shipment to Adani Global PTE Singapore " the group's regional headquarters" that listed the unit price as $33.75 per tonne and the quality as "below 3,500" kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg), considered low-grade, OCCRP reported. But when Adani Global issued its invoice to Tangedco for the shipment a month later, the unit price had dramatically increased to $91.91 per tonne and the coal was listed as having a calorific value of 6,000 kcal/kg, a high-quality form, relatively free of impurities, it added.

The evidence comes from multiple sources, including invoices and banking documents from several jurisdictions, details of investigations by India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), leaked documents from a key Indonesian coal supplier for Adani, and a trove of documents obtained from Tangedco, OCCRP stated.