Adani group investments approved by Sri Lanka
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lanka's investment promotion body has approved two renewable energy projects of India's Adani group to be set up in the north and eastern regions of the island nation at a total investment of USD 442 million.
The wind power plant in Mannar will operate at a capacity of 250 MW (megawatt) while the wind power plant in Pooneryn will operate at a capacity of 100 MW.
"The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka has issued a letter of approval to India's Adani Green Energy Limited, for the two wind power plants to be set up in Mannar and Pooneryn at a total investment of USD 442 million," a release said on Thursday.
The two wind power plants of 350 MW are scheduled to be commissioned in two years and they will be added to the national grid by 2025.
The new project will generate 1500-2000 new employment opportunities.
Early this week, the Adani Group representatives met the minister of Energy Kanchana Wijesekara to check on the progress of the two projects.
This was the first official meeting since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the Indian conglomerate. The company has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
The Adani investments in Lanka's energy sector are in addition to their investment in the port of Colombo's Western container terminal.
Gautam Adani, the group's chief, had met the then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in October 2021 to push ahead with the group's investments in the country after they annexed the deal to develop the Colombo port's western container terminal under the Rajapaksa presidency.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
