New documents reveal Adani paid 4 million pounds to the London Science Museum to help greenwash its business
Cabinet Office discloses briefings shedding light on former PM’s meetings with billionaire Adani boss during alleged bribery scheme.
The disclosed documents suggest that:
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After signing a £4 million multi-year agreement to sponsor the Science Museum’s new climate and energy gallery, Gautam Adani was accompanied by the museum’s Director and Chair to a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of the government’s ‘Global Investment Summit’, hosted at the museum that day;
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In a briefing for the meeting, it notes that Adani’s ‘natural resources business remains a challenge’, in what appears to be a reference to Adani’s position as the world’s largest private producer of coal. During the meeting, they discussed strategically important topics, including plans to list an Adani entity on the London Stock Exchange, building a European Adani HQ in the UK, and seeking to secure a platform at the COP26 Climate Summit just a few weeks later.
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The meeting at the Science Museum took place on 19 October 2021, during the period in which it is alleged that Gautam Adani was personally involved in paying bribes to Indian officials in order to secure lucrative renewable energy contracts.
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The following year, Boris Johnson attended a meeting at Adani’s HQ, also attended by ‘Adani’s family members and senior associates and the Chief Minister of Gujarat’, with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson noting how, 'Given the breadth of the renewables sector in the UK, he thought that there were numerous opportunities for collaboration’.
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During the meeting, Johnson and Adani also spoke about a ‘desire for partnership’ on arms and defence projects, such as the Future Combat Air System and naval propulsion, with Gautam Adani saying his aim was to produce a ‘BAE of India’ and speaking of aspirations to meet with the Defence Secretary.
Mr Adani is one of the world's richest people, and his Indian conglomerate owns Queensland's Carmichael coal mine.
The UK's current Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is in India to try and drive UK export growth, through clean energy, creating jobs, boosting exports and accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels.
Culture Unstained went ahead with the Appeal in order to seek for information still redacted within the documents to be disclosed and a ruling will be made in due course.
Three documents relate to Boris Johnson’s meeting with Gautam Adani at the Science Museum in London, during the UK’s Global Investment Summit in October 2021 – on the same day Adani’s sponsorship of a new ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery was announced.
