MONTREAL — Quebec’s public pension fund manager, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, participated in and signed off on a bribery scheme in which millions of dollars were paid to Indian government officials to secure lucrative solar energy contracts in the country, according to U.S. authorities. 

The details, outlined in a Department of Justice indictment last October, form part of the case against Cyril Cabanes, the former managing director for infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific with the CDPQ. Cabanes, along with executives from renewable energy companies Azure and Adani Green, participated in a US$250-million bribery scheme to ensure the two companies received contracts to supply solar power to India’s grid, according to a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint filed this week.

The Caisse, which manages $452 billion in assets, is Azure’s largest shareholder and controls four of the company’s eight board seats. It is also a shareholder in Adani Green, according to company documents. U.S. prosecutors have also charged Adani Green founder Gautam Adani in the alleged bribery scheme. 

Caisse executives Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra were named along with Cabanes in the October indictment. Malhotra, the Caisse’s former director of infrastructure, and Cabanes served on Azure’s board of directors until their resignations in November 2023. Agarwal was named the Caisse’s managing director for India in 2022.

Caisse spokesperson Jean-Benoît Houde didn’t respond to a list of questions regarding Cabanes, including whether the Caisse was aware of his activities. “CDPQ is aware of charges filed in the U.S. against certain former employees. Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is cooperating with U.S. authorities. In light of the pending cases, we have no further comment at this time,” Houde said in an emailed statement. 

The alleged bribery scheme came about as India was in the midst of a massive effort to decarbonize its power grid. Solar Energy Corporation of India, a state-owned entity tasked with implementing the government’s renewable energy programs, sought bids for solar power developers in June 2019. Both Azure and Adani Green were awarded contracts. 

Though these contracts were potentially worth billions of dollars, the price of solar power fell between the time they were awarded and Azure and Adani Green began selling power, the SEC complaint states. State-owned distribution companies balked at purchasing Azure and Adani Green power at higher prices. 

In 2020, as a result of the impasse, senior executives with Azure and Adani Green sought to pay “incentives” to Indian government officials, according to the SEC complaint. Gautam Adani discussed details of the bribery scheme during an April 2022 meeting at Adani Green’s corporate offices. “The Canadian Investor had approved the corrupt agreement,” reads the complaint, referring to the Caisse.

Cabanes, Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, along with two others, prepared multiple PowerPoint and Excel analyses to determine which corrupt payment option was best, and often referred to Gautam Adani, one of India’s wealthiest men, by code names including “Numero uno” and “the big man,” the Department of Justice indictment claims. 

The executives later deleted a PowerPoint analysis detailing how best to compensate Adani Green for its portion of the bribes, according to the Department of Justice indictment.