PSU Solar bars R-Power, arms from contracts

NEW DELHI: Govt-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has banned Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Power and its subsidiaries from bidding for any of its contracts for next three years on charges of submitting a fake bank guarantee (BG).In a statement on its website, the PSU, which is one of the renewable energy implementing agencies in the country, said in the tender for standalone battery energy storage system of 2000 MWh, issued in June, it discovered that Reliance NU BESS (earlier called Maharashtra Energy Generation) had submitted an “endorsement of the bank guarantee against EMD (earnest money deposit), which was fake”. SECI has annulled the tendering process.The bidder, being a subsidiary of Reliance Power had met the financial qualification requirements, using the strength of its parent. “Upon detailed examination of the matter, it was found logical to conclude that all the commercial decisions undertaken by the bidder were fundamentally driven by the parent company. Thus, it became imperative to debar the parent company i.e. Reliance Power from participating in the future tenders issued by SECI,” the agency said.In a stock exchange filing, Reliance Power termed it as “unwarranted action” and said it will challenge the decision. “The company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating,” the company said, adding that it had filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police on Oct 16 against a third party, which had arranged the alleged fake bank guarantee.The SECI had issued the request for selection for receiving bids for the project. Reliance NU BESS was one of the successful bidders through its subsidiary Maharashtra Energy Generation and had quoted one of the lowest bids.The SECI decision marks the latest trouble for Reliance Power, which has been seeking to expand its footprint after most Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ventures went downhill.