By George Obulutsa
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan President William Ruto said on Thursday he had ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that had been expected to award control of the country’s main airport to India’s Adani Group after its founder was indicted in the United States.
Under the proposed deal to expand the main Nairobi airport, Adani was to add a second runway at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport and upgrade the passenger terminal.
“I have directed agencies within the ministry of transport and within the ministry of energy and petroleum to immediately cancel the ongoing procurement,” Ruto said in his state of the nation address, attributing the decision to “new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations”.
An Adani Group firm signed a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership deal with the energy ministry last month to construct power transmission lines in a separate project.
Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi on Thursday said there was no bribery or corruption involved in the award of the transmission lines contract.
Ruto’s announcement was met by applause from lawmakers present in parliament, where he gave his address.
Representatives from Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. authorities said on Wednesday that group founder Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest people, and seven other defendants agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials.
The Adani Group denied the allegations and said in a statement that it would seek “all possible legal recourse”.
The airport proposal was made public in July, after it was leaked on social media four months after it was made.
In September, a Kenyan court temporarily blocked a proposed airport lease deal, which would have run for 30 years, in exchange for expanding it.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa and Sonia Rao; Editing by Aaron Ross)
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