Business
Adani's Australia coal mine hit by ownership controversy
Melbourne, Feb 7
Within days of reported
uncertainty about Queensland state support for Australia's largest
Carmichael coal mine, the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group project has been
hit by controversy again over the ultimate ownership of the Abbot Point
lease.
The daily Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Fairfax
Media investigation said "it appears that Gautam Adani does not
ultimately control many of the companies associated with his company's
Australian coal developments. Instead his eldest brother Vinod Shantilal
Adani holds pivotal positions".
The report "has found a complex
web of companies tied to Adani's Australian coal developments, extending
from the low-tax regime of Singapore to the tax haven of the Cayman
Islands", it added.
"Company documents also suggest uncertainty
about the ultimate ownership of the Abbot Point development, which has
attracted global scrutiny and fierce criticism from the environmental
movement because of its closeness to the Great Barrier Reef," it said.
The
report said Vinod Adani has been named in a criminal investigation into
the alleged siphoning of $1 billion from Indian shareholders in three
Adani companies into offshore accounts.
"Whatever the truth of
the untested allegations, a trail of documents appears to tie Vinod
Shantilal Adani to the ownership of the Abbot Point lease," it added.
Commenting
on the reports, an Adani Group spokesperson said: "Ownership structures
of the companies reflect the required level of ring-fencing and
financial governance architecture required for a mine, rail and port
project, and T1 (Abbot Point) port operations. The above is also
layered to meet the various regulatory and funding regimes that apply to
these assets."
Earlier this week, the Adani Group said the
construction of Carmichael mine will go ahead despite the recent poll
victory in Queensland of the Labor Party that is committed to removing
taxpayer support for the project.
"The result of the Queensland
election does not influence the company's financial decision-making.
Adani welcomes the opportunity to work with the new premier to meet and
discuss a project that will deliver 10,000 jobs and $22bn in taxes and
royalties that the Queensland government needs to invest right back into
frontline services in the state," the group said in a statement.
Unlike
the exiting Liberal National Party, which promised funds for the 300-km
rail line to take coal to the Abbot Point port, the Labor Party has
committed removing state subsidies for the Carmichael coal and
associated rail projects.
It also opposes "reef dumping" under
the "Saving the Great Barrier Reef" policy, and has committed to banning
the sea dumping of capital dredge spoil within the Great Barrier Reef
World Heritage Area.
Coal production in the $16 billion
Carmichael mine will start in 2017, with up to 60 million tonnes of coal
a year set to be exported, making it one of the largest in the world.