🎬Integrity at play

CURRENCIES

BUSINESS
Adani fraud case causing Kenya to back off

Kenya is taking a page right out of the biblical “a good name is better than riches.” That’s why yesterday, President Ruto canceled all public-private partnerships with subsidiaries of India’s Adani Group.

On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice accused Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest people of scheming to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy supply contracts and lying to US investors to finance the project.

While the Adani group has denied allegations, the Kenyan government believes that “credible information on corruption” has emerged that would force Kenya away from any potential deals according to President Ruto.

Deal or no deal. Despite Ruto topping a poll that declared him Kenya’s most corrupt individual in August, he has stood firm in his resolve to cut ties with Adani.

• He said he was canceling a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership deal that the Adani Group firm signed with the energy ministry last month to construct power transmission lines.

• He ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that had been expected to award control of the country's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the Adani Group.

The proposed deal worth nearly $2 billion, was to add a second runway at the airport and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease. Kenyan airport workers striked against the deal, calling it fraudulent and “a risk for jobs”.

Not his first rodeo. The crisis also comes as Mr. Adani has spent nearly two years trying to rebuild his image after US short-seller Hindenburg Research's 2023 report accused his conglomerate of decades of stock manipulation and fraud.

Looking ahead. Adani might retaliate, charging the Kenyan government to court to challenge the cancellations. “That said, any dispute resolution framework … is likely to lean towards the state because the deal has been canceled based on integrity issues,” per George Kamau, a public procurement attorney. -EA.

TRENDING
A duct-taped banana sells for $6.2 million

It’s one banana, how much could it cost? Well, we’ll tell you: $6.24 million.

That’s how much the viral duct-taped banana art piece “Comedian” sold for at Sotheby’s auction yesterday. It was purchased by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who beat out six rival bidders for the potassium prize.

Banana? Banana. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan shook up the art world when he debuted the absurdist work five years ago and sold three editions for $120,000–$150,000 each. Cattelan said in 2021 that the piece is not a joke, but “a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value,” and moreover, that the presence of the item in the world of high art is “as if the auction house is leaning on a provocation to keep the show alive.”

SHOWER THOUGHTS

NEWS
Round the continent

• Resolute Mining’s CEO and two other executives have finally been released by the Malian government after agreeing to settle the $160 million tax dispute.

• Mali has also appointed its new prime minister, Abdoulaye Maiga following the dismissal of the former PM after he questioned the military government’s integrity.

• WHO has authorized a Japanese mpox vaccine for use in children above the age of 1. It’s expected to debut in DR Congo.

• Spain has promised to offer residency and work permits to trans-Mediterranean migrants from Africa.