SECI weighs criminal proceedings against Reliance Power over ‘fraud documents for bidding’: Report

The Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI), the country’s leading renewable energy agency, has issued a notice to Reliance Power, led by Anil Ambani, questioning why criminal action should not be initiated against the company, Reuters reported. 

This follows allegations that a subsidiary of the power producer submitted fraudulent documents for a bid, according to a notice dated November 13. 

Business Today was unable to verify the development independently.

Last week, SECI imposed a three-year ban on Reliance Power from participating in its clean energy project tenders after discovering that one of its units had submitted a counterfeit foreign bank guarantee. 

SECI accused the company’s subsidiary, Reliance NU BESS, of submitting a fake bank guarantee, alongside a forged endorsement. The agency said that “the repeated submission of a fraudulent bank guarantee and its counterfeit endorsement has been deemed a deliberate act aimed at manipulating the tender process and securing project capacity through fraudulent means.” 

In response, Reliance Power said it had received a show-cause notice from SECI and maintained that the company and its subsidiary were victims of “fraud, forgery, and a cheating conspiracy.” 

In a filing to the stock exchange on November 7, Reliance Power announced it would pursue all legal avenues to challenge SECI’s action, which prevents the company from participating in future government tenders for the next three years. 

In September, Reliance Power had announced it secured a tender from SECI for a 500 MW/1000 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project through an e-Reverse Auction, marking a major foray into the renewable energy and storage sector. The company’s subsidiary, Reliance NU BESS, had bid for a portion of a larger 1 GW/2 GWh standalone BESS tender, under the name Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd. 

In a separate filing, Reliance Power clarified that the bank endorsement in question had been arranged by a third party. “The company and its subsidiaries acted in good faith and were victims of a fraud, forgery, and cheating conspiracy orchestrated by the third party,” it stated. 

The company also revealed it had filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police on October 16, 2024, against the third party involved.