By Rishika Sadam
HYDERABAD (Reuters) – The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is reviewing government records and will explore the possibility of canceling a power supply contract linked to the Adani group, whose billionaire founder has been indicted in the United States, a a senior official told Reuters.

U.S. authorities have accused Gautam Adani and seven others of agreeing to pay $265 million in bribes to unnamed Indian government officials to obtain solar power contracts in Odisha, the Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and the Federal Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, between 2021 and 2022.

The Andhra Pradesh state government was “digging through all the internal files” of the previous administration where the alleged misconduct took place, state Finance Minister Payyavula told Reuters on Monday Keshav.

“We will also look at what can be done next, such as if there is a possibility of canceling the contract… the state government is looking into this matter closely,” Keshav said.

An Adani Group spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.

Andhra Pradesh’s former ruling party, the YSR Congress Party, last week denied any wrongdoing.

The U.S. indictment says that following the payment of alleged bribes to Indian officials, Andhra Pradesh power distribution companies entered into a power supply agreement to purchase ” about seven gigawatts of solar power – by far the largest amount of any Indian state or region.”

The U.S. charges are the biggest setback for billionaire Adani, whose company’s shares and bonds have fallen sharply since the indictment.

French oil major TotalEnergies, which holds a 20% stake in Adani Green, on Monday halted further investment in the Adani Group.

(Writing by Aditya Kalra; editing by Christina Fincher)

Disclaimer: This report is automatically generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint assumes no responsibility for its content.