Explained: Why Kenya cancelled Adani airport development deal after US indictment
The proposal was under immense scrutiny after allegations that it had been reached through corrupt backroom negotiations.
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Hours after a US court indicted industrialist Gautam Adani in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme on Thursday. the Kenyan government cancelled the procurement process for a $1.85 billion deal with his Indian conglomerate to expand the airport in Nairobi. It also scrapped a $736 million deal to build power transmission lines in the country.
The Adani Group had in March submitted the proposal to operate the Nairobi airport on a lease for 30 years in exchange for expanding it. As a Scroll analysis showed, this was part of a trend in which Adani projects in foreign countries are announced shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the country or meeting its head of state. Kenyan President William Ruto had visited New Delhi in December 2023.
The Adani proposal to build another runway and upgrade the passenger terminal at Nairobi airport became public knowledge only in July when whistleblower Nelson Amenya released government documents showing that the deal was in process.
On Friday, Amenya alleged to Scroll that the Adani proposal in March and government approval for an investment plan for the airport three months later in June had not been in the public domain because the deal had been brokered through backroom negotiations. These talks are alleged to have been...
