Lankan Official Who Said Modi ‘Pressured’ Rajapaksa To Give Deal to Adani Quits

This claim was later retracted by the official after President Rajapaksa denied it.

A Sri Lankan official resigned on Monday, 13 June, after claiming that an energy project was awarded to billionaire businessman Gautam Adani after Prime Minister Narendra Modi put pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The official, MMC Ferdinando, who is the chairman of the Ceylon Electric Board (CEB), put in his papers three days after telling a parliamentary panel that he was told by Rajapaksa that PM Modi was urging him to award a wind power project to the Adani Group.

This claim was later retracted by Ferdinando after President Rajapaksa denied it.

A letter, however, suggests that the official had written to Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry to fast-track approvals for the energy project in the country's Mannar district, citing "directions by the (Sri Lankan) Prime Minister" to recognise Adani's proposal as that of the Indian government to the Sri Lankan government, NDTV reported.