Three former executives of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec have just been accused in the United States of having participated in a corruption scheme, in connection with contracts obtained by the solar energy producer Azure Power Global, controlled by the nest egg of Quebecers.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
This company, in which the manager of public pension plans has sunk more than half a billion, has been shaken for more than two years by serious allegations of embezzlement, which resulted in it being ejected from the New York Stock Exchange. York in July 2023.
The three former Caisse executives, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, were charged on October 24 in New York. Along with five Indian businessmen, they allegedly participated from 2020 in a bribery system totaling 250 million US dollars to fraudulently obtain electricity contracts.
“The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to obtain billions of dollars in contracts,” according to a New York prosecutor’s statement, released Wednesday.
The charges were filed in the United States as the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and therefore subject to the country’s laws.
Cyril Cabanes, a French and Australian citizen, was vice-president, infrastructure, of the Caisse for Asia-Pacific until 2023, in the Singapore office, in addition to representing the Quebec institution on the board of directors of Azure .
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
Cyril Cabanes, former vice-president, infrastructure, of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for Asia-Pacific
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
Deepak Malhotra, former director, infrastructure, of the Caisse for South Asia, in the New Delhi office, and administrator of Azure
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
Saurabh Agarwal, former director of the Caisse de dépôt et placement in India
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Also accused, Deepak Malhotra was director, infrastructure, of the Fund for South Asia, in the New Delhi office, and administrator of Azure. As for Saurabh Agarwal, he was director of the Caisse in India and reported to Cabanes.
The accusations also target Rupesh Agarwal, appointed CEO of Azure in August 2022, when the Caisse was the majority shareholder.
Contacted by The Pressthe nest egg of Quebecers refused to comment in detail.
“The Caisse is informed that charges have been brought in the United States against certain former employees. These employees were all fired in 2023 and the Caisse is cooperating with the American authorities, writes communications director Jean-Benoît Houde in an email. Given the ongoing procedures, we have no further comment at this time. »
Conspiracy with a competitor
Agarwal’s predecessor as head of Azure until April 2022, former CEO Ranjit Gupta, is also accused.
It was he who allegedly informed his successor and the accused representatives of the Fund about the bribes that allowed Azure to obtain the first two tranches of contracts for solar energy, for nearly 3,000 megawatts.
The former executives of Azure and Caisse are said to have acted in concert with three other accused linked to its main competitor, the Adani group, including Gautam Adani, its president. It was this conglomerate that was responsible for paying bribes to Indian officials, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Together, Azure and Adani were eyeing contracts that could have brought in profits of US$2 billion over 20 years, the statement said.
The Fund would have “approved” bribes
In April 2022, the new CEO of Azure Rupesh Agarwal and two of the representatives of the Caisse allegedly met with Adani executives, who then made them aware of different aspects of the corruption system, according to the indictment of the Department of Justice. Adani bosses also reportedly informed them that “the Canadian investor had approved the corruption deal.”
CEO of Azure until July 2023 under the control of the Fund, Agarwal then allegedly prepared “multiple analyzes in PowerPoint and Excel to determine which corruption payment was best for the company”.
“Hinderance”
The Department of Justice also claims that the three former executives of the Caisse and the former CEO of Azure Rupesh Agarwal would have “conspired to obstruct” the investigations of an American grand jury, the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission on their system of corruption.
“These four defendants notably agreed to erase electronic material related to the bribery scheme, including emails, electronic messages and documents on bribery schemes,” the statement said.
The former directors of the Caisse and Agarwal also allegedly made “certain selective assertions” to give “a false appearance of transparency and good governance,” adds the Department of Justice in the indictment.
They notably revealed that bosses of the Adani group had asked them for “corruption money”, while hiding their own involvement.
“There were representatives of the Caisse who were part of this system,” underlines François Dauphin, CEO of the Institute on the Governance of Public and Private Organizations (IGOPP). It was pretty well put together. It becomes a culture of collusion and malfeasance. »
Big stampede
The Caisse invested in Azure for the first time in 2016 and gradually established itself, to the point of becoming the majority shareholder in 2020. It invested more than 600 million Canadian dollars, which gives it a stake of 53.4%. This investment is now worth around 35 million.
The stock market debacle of the Indian energy producer began on August 29, 2022. That day, its stock collapsed by 44% following the announcement of the launch of an internal investigation due to allegations raised by a whistleblower about manipulation of data and information.
Azure’s stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the company was unable, in a timely manner, to provide an up-to-date picture of its financial health, due to irregularities raised on its practices.
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