Mumbai: SECI Issues Show Cause Notice To Reliance Power Over Alleged Fake Bank Guarantee Submission In Solar Bid

Mumbai: The national renewable energy agency Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) issued notices to Reliance Power asking why it should not initiate criminal proceedings after a subsidiary of the Anil Ambani led power producer submitted fake documents for a bid. The show cause notice issued on Wednesday alleged that not only the endorsement, but the bank guarantee itself was also fake.

“The repeated submission of a fake bank guarantee along with its counterfeit endorsement has been deemed a deliberate act by the bidder, intended to vitiate the tendering process and to secure the project capacity through fraudulent means," said SECI implementing the National Solar Mission.

Last week SECI under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, had barred Anil Ambani's Reliance Power and its subsidiaries from bidding in future tenders for three years for submitting fake bank guarantees.

The debarment was due to fake bank guarantees submitted in the last round of bidding by Reliance NU BESS Ltd., earlier known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd. Reliance NU BESS blamed a third party arranger for the fake bank guarantee claiming that it was itself a victim of fraud.

“It was found that the endorsement of the bank guarantee against the earnest money deposit was fake,” SECI said adding that subsidiary of Reliance Power had "met the financial qualification requirements using the strength of its parent company."

Last June SECI had invited bids for a 1 gigawatt solar power and 2 gigawatt standalone battery energy storage system. The bidding process was cancelled at an advanced stage, owing to discrepancies noted in the bid submitted by Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power.

The subsidiary had submitted a foreign bank guarantee with an email from State Bank of India supporting it, with the email address 'sbi.17313@s-bi.co.in' which was found to be suspicious by SECI official.

“An investigation was ordered and SBI clarified that they never issued any such support and that the email was sent from a fake email address,” said senior SECI official.