Investigate allegations of over-invoicing of imported coal by Adani – EAS Sarma
Bahadurjeet Singh/New Delhi, October 17,2023
Allegations of over-invoicing of imported coal by the Adani Group and others and its adverse impact on electricity consumers’ interests call for an independent judicial enquiry, said E A S Sarma , Former Secretary to the Government of India in a letter to Rajiv Gauba ,Cabinet Secretary, Government of India.
Now Financial Times found that the Adani group used “offshore intermediaries” to import billions of dollars worth of coal at prices that were at times more than double the market price’. if the findings are true, it implies that the coal importer had over-invoiced coal imports , thereby overcharging the state power utilities .
It is possible that there are several other domestic companies also importing coal from overseas mines and supplying it to State power utilities at over-invoiced prices. It is necessary to get all such coal imports investigated thoroughly.
V K Gupta Spokesperson All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said that some estimates show that imported coal at such high prices increased consumer cost by Rs 0.70 – 1.00 per kwh, imposing a burden of more than Rs 24,000 crores on Discoms
Sarma in his earlier letter of April 6, 2023 referred to prima facie evidence of several central government agencies extending undue benefits to the Adani Group. The adverse implications of the concessions from the point of view of the national interest and finally their long-term adverse implications for the taxpayers and the electricity consumers at large needs to be investigated .
Investigate allegations of over-invoicing of imported coal by Adani – EAS Sarma. Earlier Sarma raised concerns at undue dilution by SEBI in 2018 of its 2014 FPI regulations to weaken its own ability to locate beneficial ownership of FPIs at a time when there was already an ongoing investigation against the Adani Group. The Corporate Affairs Ministry deliberately did not provide a definition for “overseas shell companies” in Companies Act and other relevant laws.
The coal shortage situation has largely arisen from gross mismanagement of indigenous coal supplies on the part of the Centre. Instead of addressing it in consultation with the Ministry of Coal, the Ministry of Power imposed an unreasonable obligation on State utilities to meet a minimum of 10% of their coal demand through imports, allowing a field day to some domestic business houses owning overseas coal mines to take full advantage of it by over-invoicing coal supplied from those overseas mines to state power utilities and laundering funds to their overseas shell companies.
As long as there is a delay on the part of the Centre to act , it would lend more and more credence to the above-cited allegations in the public mind.
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