The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Bangladesh will review the power agreement signed by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government with the Adani group, its interim government announced on Sunday (November 24).
A review committee formed by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has recommended that an investigation agency scrutinise al the major power agreements signed by Hasina’s regime between 2009-2024, one of which is with the Adani group.
The statement, issued by chief adviser at Yunus’s office, said the committee was currently reviewing seven major energy and power projects, including the Adani (Godda) BIFPCL 1234.4 MW coal-fired plant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Power Limited, the New Indian Express reported.
Other agreements under review include a 1320 MW coal-fired power plant run by a Chinese company and agreements with business groups considered to be close to Hasina’s government.
The committee in its statement said that it had gathered sufficient information warranting agreement to be scrapped or reconsidered in consideration with internal arbitration laws.
“The committee needed additional time to further analyze other solicited and unsolicited contracts. In doing so, we recommend immediate appointment of one or more top-level international legal and investigation agency or agencies to assist the committee”, the statement said quoting a letter of the committee, headed by retired high court judge Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury.
Mired in controversy since its inception
Adani’s Godda thermal power plant has been at the centre of controversy since its inception.
Experts had said that Dhaka was buying power at an exorbitant price while political parties in Bangladesh had called it an “extremely uneven deal signed with an ulterior motive”.
In 2023, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPD) had written to Adani Power asking for the agreement, signed in 2017, to be revised.
“In our view, the coal price they have quoted (USD400/MT) is excessive – it should be less than USD 250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants,” a BPD official had said.
The memorandum of understanding, preceding the 2017 agreement, between the Adani Group and Dhaka was signed in August 2015, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh.
Opposition parties in India have questioned whether Modi was directly involved in the deal between the Adani Group and the Bangladesh government.
‘Amenable rules’
“Cooperation in the power and energy sector has become one of the hallmarks of India-Bangladesh relations,” the Union external affairs ministry had said last year.
However, in October the Adani group wrote to Bangladesh over its unpaid power supply bill amounting to $800 million. Bangladesh’s state-run Power Development Board had said they had already paid $150 million despite its dollar crisis and was expecting to pay the full amount.
In November, the supply from the Godda plant was halved with Bangladesh experience a power shortage of over 1,600 megawatts
India also recently amended rules that allowed thermal power plants set up exclusively to supply power to neigbouring countries to be able to sell it domestically in light of non-payment or delays in clearing dues. Adani’s plant is the only such plant that sells its output to a foreign market.
The move was seen by some as a protective measure for the politically connected conglomerate against political disruptions in Bangladesh.
US indictment
Last week Kenyan President William Ruto announced the immediate cancellation of all infrastructure deals with the Adani Group, including the controversial takeover of the Jomo Kenyatta International airport. The move came after the US indictment of Adani, with the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing him of running a “massive bribery scheme”.