Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani suffered a setback on Thursday after he was charged with fraud by US prosecutors. Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and others were indicted for their alleged roles in a US$265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power supply contracts.

Later, there were reports that Kenya canceled two major deals worth US$2.5 billion with the Adani Group following the US indictment on bribery charges. But the billionaire-led group has now clarified the reports, saying it had entered into no binding agreement to operate Kenya’s main airport.

On the pact it had signed last month to build and operate key electricity transmission lines in Kenya for 30 years, the group said the project does not fall under Sebi’s disclosure rules, which does not warrant any disclosure of its suspension.

The group was responding to messages sent by stock exchanges to confirm reports of Kenyan President William Ruto ordering the suspension of a procurement process that had been expected to give control of the country’s main airport after the conglomerate’s founders were indicted in the United States. The group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises Ltd, which has its airport operations, said in a filing that in August this year it had incorporated a spin-off subsidiary in Kenya to upgrade, modernize and manage airports.

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“While the company was in discussions with the relevant authority for the said project, neither the company nor its subsidiaries have (i) been awarded any airport project in Kenya, or (ii) entered into any binding or definitive agreement in relation to any airport in Kenya,” the company said. It did not confirm or deny reports that Kenya canceled the airport deal.

Under the proposed airport deal worth nearly US$2 billion, the conglomerate would add a second runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and upgrade the passenger terminal. It would also be operated on a 30-year lease. Kenya’s president also said he was canceling a separate 30-year, US$736 million public-private partnership an Adani Group company signed with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum last month to build power transmission lines.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)