Fake Email ID For Bank Guarantee: How SECI Exposed Reliance Power's Alleged Fraud

The Solar Energy Corp. of India—the government body in-charge of implementing the National Solar Mission—has exposed an alleged fraud of Reliance Power Ltd., as it has accused the company's subsidiary of using a fake endorsement for bank guarantee, while submitting a recent bid.

The Anil Ambani-led company has been barred from submitting bids in future tenders for a three-year period, according to a statement issued by SECI on Thursday. The ban has also been imposed on Reliance Power's subsidiaries, including Reliance NU BESS Ltd. The SECI action stems from the bid submitted by Reliance NU BESS for the setting up of 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone BESS projects.

The bidding process was cancelled at an advanced stage, owing to discrepancies noted in the bid submitted by Reliance NU BESS. "It was discovered that as per the tender requirements, the endorsement of the bank guarantee against EMD (issued by a foreign bank), as submitted by the bidder, was fake. Since the above discrepancy was discovered subsequent to the e-reverse auction, SECI was constrained to annul the tendering process,"

Modus Operandi: 'Fake' Email ID As part of the bidding process, the Reliance Power subsidiary had submitted a foreign bank guarantee in June this year, with a purported email from the State Bank of India supporting it, people familiar with the matter said. The email had the following ID: '[email protected]', the persons privy to the matter said. Finding the email suspicious.