Bangladesh appoints UK law firm to arbitrate coal pricing with Adani Group

Dhaka: Bangladesh has appointed a British law firm to represent its state-run Power Development Board (BPDB) in mediation proceedings over its disputes with Adani Power Limited on the Indian conglomerate’s coal pricing and power tariffs, officials said on Friday.

The BPDB officials said they appointed London-based 3VP, a leading law firm that provides commercial and financial litigation, to represent Bangladesh in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), a court of international arbitration.

The Bangladesh-based Business Standard (TBS) newspaper said the 3VP chambers, headed by King's Counsel Farhaz Khan, had been advising a national review committee on the Adani deal for several months.

The development came in less than a week, within five days of the committee submitting its final report detailing power sector agreements signed during the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s toppled Awami League government.

"Our move to appoint the British firm came as Adani Power initiated arbitration at Singapore International Arbitration last year,” a Power Division official said, while the Indian energy giant claimed about USD 485 million in unpaid dues linked to the disputed coal tariff.

Under the agreement, mediation is a mandatory but non-binding step before full arbitration.

Bangladesh argues that Adani is charging an excessively high coal price, inflating electricity generation costs. After the fall of the Hasina-led government on August 5, 2024, in a violent student-led street protest, BPDB intensified efforts to reopen negotiations with Adani.

The national review committee earlier on Thursday said it gathered strong evidence for Bangladesh to initiate international legal proceedings against Adani Power Limited.

"Money transactions took place between Adani officials and Bangladeshi officials, and the panel is ready to submit this evidence to court once legal proceedings begin," interim government’s energy adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan said.

The officials said they shared the evidence with Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) for further investigation.

The review committee submitted its interim report in November last year, when the adviser said Bangladesh’s interim government of Muhammad Yunus could scrap the existing power procurement contract with Adani if it was proven that the deal was reached through corrupt means.

The review committee, headed by retired High Court judge Moinul Islam Chowdhury, who earlier told reporters that they prepared a separate report on the power purchase deal with India’s Adani group as well.

"But we believe you will get strong evidence of corruption when a legal process begins at home and abroad against Adani and a few other companies related to Adani who are involved in this corruption,” the state-run BSS, meanwhile, reported, quoting an unnamed committee member.

Prominent jurist Shahdeen Malik, who was indicted in the committee, however, asked the government to weigh the risks of scrapping foreign deals, saying that while there were legal grounds to cancel such foreign contracts, taking the matter to an international court could trigger claims of up to $5 billion.

Adani supplies 1,600 MW from its Godda plant in Jharkhand, and in terms of payments, Bangladesh cleared its outstanding dues, making a one-time payment of USD 437 million in June 2025, settling all receivables up to March 31, 2025.

Previously, Bangladesh had struggled to pay dues, which had caused Adani to reduce supply, but full supply has been restored since the payments were settled.