After fresh revelations emerged in the import of coal by Adani Group, anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said laws are being flouted at every level and that it needs thorough investigation. He emphasised that there was prima facie evidence to initiate a probe and said that it should start at the earliest as public money was involved.
Documents obtained by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which was shared with TNM, revealed that at least 24 coal shipments which landed on the Tamil Nadu coast between January and October 2014 were sold by the Adani Group to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) for triple the price.
Stating that the corruption could be much deeper than what they had expected at Rs 6,000 crores, Jayaram said the report details how the invoices of coal shipment by one company in Indonesia– PT Jhonlin–for the supply to TANGEDCO, travel through different companies.
“The quality of coal specified in TANGEDCO’s case is 6,000 kilocalories. Whereas, PT Jhonlin in their documents has mentioned a low-grade coal of 3,500 calories for $28. It travels through different companies and when Adani invoices TANGEDCO, the coal suddenly upgrades to 6,000 kilocalories with an increase in price. It is to note that between 2012-16, 2.44 crore metric tonnes of coal was imported by TANGEDCO and around half of it was supplied by Adani,” he said, adding that an FIR has to be registered at the earliest.
Jayaram said that there would be a drastic increase in environment pollution if low-grade coal is supplied. He further said that in order to produce more electricity, Tamil Nadu would have to import more coal due to the import of low-grade coal leading to extra burden on its exchequer other than the loss. “TANGEDCO has been facing a heavy loss of Rs 1.5 lakh crores, mainly due to such corruption. This has a direct impact on the consumers. We saw the tariff increase and people, including MSMEs, struggling,” he said.
Regarding the quality control by TANGEDCO, Jayaram said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out the lapse in its testing mechanism. He said that Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) also imports coal at a lower price and has a random sampling method unlike TANGEDCO, which is completely reliant on the contractor–in this case Adani.
“Even if TANGEDCO does a random test, the sample would be given by Adani. This lapse was pointed out in the CAG report. The entire setup is to favour Adani and a few others. It has been happening for years. We recently saw that coal was missing, how can it go missing,” he asked.
Former Electricity Minister of Tamil Nadu V Senthil Balaji had said that about 2.38 lakh tonnes of coal, meant to fuel the thermal power plant in North Chennai, had gone missing. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 14, 2023 in connection with a money laundering case related to a cash-for-jobs scam in the state Transport Department during the previous AIADMK rule.
You can read the report on Adani Group’s import of coal here: Adani suspected of fraud by selling low-grade coal as high-value to Tangedco