'Stop getting IOCL to play with words': Mahua Moitra targets Adani over Dhamra LNG project deal

A day after report emerged saying that the Adani promoters financed the Dhamra LNG facility in Odisha, TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Monday targeted the group again and asked its chairman Gautam Adani to stop getting 'IOCL to play with words'. "Stop sweating Mr. Adani & getting IOCL to play with words. IOCL could have build 5 MMTPA (million metric tons per annum) terminal for ₹5000 cr like in Ennore. Instead you got Dhamra without tender and they entered into Rs 46,500 cr off-take agreement with you," she said in a tweet on Monday.

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Moitra, who is facing a probe by Lok Sabha's Ethics Committee over cash for query in Parliament, has accused the central government of favouring Adani using Public Sector Units (PSUs). In an exclusive interview with India Today, Moitra on Saturday explained the whole controversy about the Dhamra Port - a 100 per cent subsidiary of Adani Ports and SEZ. 

She said state-run Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and GAIL constructed a 5 mmtpa terminal in Ennore at the cost of Rs 5,000 crore. Moitra claimed that IOCL and GAIL could have constructed Dhamra Port in Odisha, but withdrew from bidding and paid Adani Rs 46,500 crores to build the terminal with 4.5 mmtpa capacity.

"Why are two PSUs who could have built something at one-tenth of price paying Adani to construct it at ten times the price. Not only that, IOCL and GAIL entered an off-take agreement where they agreed to buy gas from Dhamra at a fixed price for the next 20 years," Moitra said while speaking to India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai.

"Mr Adani got to build it (Dhamra terminal) at inflated price and he got to recover the money from the public sector entities for the next 20 years through assured contract," Moitra said, adding that Adani used that assured contract from IOCL and GAIL to get into joint venture with France's Total Energy.

Moitra's latest attack on Adani came just a day after news agency PTI reported that the conglomerate built the Dhamra LNG import facility entirely based on financial backing of promoters, with no financial undertaking or guarantees of IOC and GAIL, who merely were tenants. Sources told the news agency that IOC and GAIL (India) Ltd have hired capacity on the newly built terminal at rates lower than a similar but older and depreciated facility at Dahej in Gujarat.

The report further said that project cost of Dhamra LNG terminal is Rs 6,450 crore, slightly more than the project cost of Ennore but far lower than what Moitra claimed. No amount upfront or during the project either as cash or bank guarantee has been given by IOC and GAIL, the sources told the news agency. They also rejected the assertion that IOC and GAIL paid Rs 46,500 crore to Adani and said the project is fully financed by equity and debt by shareholders of Dhamra LNG terminal.

Earlier this month, after corruption charges against Moitra surfaced, the Adani group in a statement said: "This development corroborates our statement of 9 Oct 2023 that some groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm our name, goodwill and market standing. In this particular case, the lawyer's complaint (against Moitra that she was helped by a businessman to target Adani) reveals that this arrangement to besmirch the reputation and interests of the Adani Group and our Chairman Mr. Gautam Adani has been in place since 2018."

The group, which is yet to issue any statement on charges regarding the Dhamra facility, further said that "some foreign entities like the OCCRP, supported by a section of the foreign media, short-sellers and domestic collaborators had launched a series of attacks against the Adani Group with the primary intent of dragging down its market value".