Can't Trust Adani

From allegations of offshore tax dodging to inflated jobs claims and corruption, Adani has a history of shonky behaviour that has wrecked communities and the environment.

Adani chartered a ship that saw a serious coal and oil spill off Mumbai’s coast, damaging tourism, polluting the marine environment and attracting an AU$975,000 court fine.

Adani companies are under investigation for corruption, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion in India. A number of Adani subsidiaries registered in Australia are ultimately owned by entities registered in the infamous Cayman Island and British Virgin Islands tax havens.

In an Australian court, Adani was shown to have misled the public about the amount of royalties and jobs the mine would generate, while its Australian CEO boasts to the business press “everything will be autonomous from mine to port”11.

Adani Group companies have an appalling record of environmental destruction and prosecutions overseas, including illegal dealings, bribery, environmental and social devastation and allegations of corruption, fraud and money laundering12.

Some of the shocking examples:

  • Adani’s chartered coal ship sank and polluted Indian waters with coal and oil, creating fear about what Australia could face if Adani ships coal through the Great Barrier Reef.
  • Adani’s Munda power plant development failed to comply with environmental regulation and development permits causing environmental destruction and harm to local communities.
  • An Adani company illegally undertook work to construct a port in Hazira, blocking 80 fishing families’ access to their traditional fishing zones and destroying habitat, attracting an AU$4.8 million fine for compensation and restoration.

Adani has already brought their disregard for the environment, communities and regulation to Australia.

For example, Adani Mining failed to reveal to the Federal Environment Department that its Australian CEO was in charge of a Zambian copper mine when it polluted a major river in 2010, despite a specific request for information about the environmental history of Adani’s executive officers13.

Adani has also been caught misleading the public about the number of jobs and the amount of royalties its Australian project will create, following admissions from its own expert in court14.

The Adani Group is a complex corporate web that includes nine Australian Adani companies owned through an entity in the Cayman Islands tax haven. This is a significant risk, especially if these companies were to receive money from Australian taxpayers which needed to be recovered from Adani if the company or project ultimately failed15.

Adani is not a corporation we can trust to look after our local communities, precious water, the Great Barrier Reef or taxpayers’ money.

Footnotes

11. The Chronicle, What legal battle? Adani orders 55 dump trucks for mine, 15 June 2015.
12. Environmental Justice Australia, The Adani Brief: What Governments and financiers need to know about the Adani Group’s record overseas,15 February 2017.
13. Environmental Justice Australia, The Adani Brief: What Governments and financiers need to know about the Adani Group’s record overseas,15 February 2017.
14. Sydney Morning Herald, Adani mine a $20b project creating 10,000 jobs? The Abbott government's myths busted, 20 August 2015.
15. ABC, Adani's Galilee Basin complex corporate web spreads to tax havens,21 December 2016.