Kenya cancels airport and energy deals with Adani group after the US indicts the Indian tycoon

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s president said Thursday that he has cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Indian tycoon Gautam Adani after U.S. bribery and fraud indictments against one of Asia's richest men.

President William Ruto said in a state of the nation address the decision was made “based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations,” without naming the United States.

The Adani group had been in the process of signing an agreement that would modernize Kenya’s main airport in the capital, Nairobi, with an additional runway and terminal constructed, in exchange for the group running the airport for 30 years.

The widely criticized deal had sparked anti-Adani protests in Kenya and a strike by airport workers, who said it would lead to degraded working conditions and job losses in some cases.

The Adani group had also been awarded a deal to construct power transmission lines in Kenya, East Africa's business hub.

Also Thursday, Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi told a parliamentary committee there was no bribery or corruption involved on Kenya's part in signing that deal.

U.S. prosecutors indicted Adani this week on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in India by concealing that it was facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme. He was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.

The Kenyan military guard of honour gets ready to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Kenyan military guard of honour stands in formation to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Kenyan military guard of honour gets ready to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Kenyan military guard of honour stands in formation to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenya Military band gets ready to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Kenyan military guard of honour gets ready to welcome President William Ruto, before delivering the State of Nation address at the Parliament Buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenyan President William Ruto, center, reviews the honour guard after arriving to give the State of The Nation address at Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenyan President William Ruto, center, reviews the honour guard after arriving to give the State of The Nation address at Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenyan President William Ruto, center, reviews the honour guard after arriving to give the State of The Nation address at Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenyan President William Ruto, center, reviews the honour guard after arriving to give the State of The Nation address at Parliament buildings in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Police in Finland said Thursday they had detained five suspects in connection with deadly violence in southeastern Nigeria and were seeking a court extension of the detentions.

The police did not identify the suspects, only saying that a dual Finnish-Nigerian citizen, born in the 1980s, was under criminal investigation.

However, Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian linked to the Biafran separatist movement, lives in Lahti, where the Päijät-Häme District Court will consider a request from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation to keep the suspects in custody.

Ekpa is one of the leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra separatist group that is demanding the creation of an independent Biafra state from the troubled southeast region of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man (under investigation) has furthered his efforts from Finland in such a way that has resulted in violence against civilians and public authorities and in other crimes in South-East Nigeria,” Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen said in a statement.

The suspect “carried out this activity by campaigning, for example, on his social media channels,” Hiltunen said.

The secessionist campaign in southeastern Nigeria dates back to the 1960s when the short-lived Republic of Biafra fought and lost a civil war from 1967 to 1970 to become independent from the West African country. An estimated 1 million people died in the conflict, many from starvation.

Nigerian authorities have accused Ekpa of using social media to instigate violence by his followers in Nigeria, many of them young people.

Police in Finland said the investigation involves international cooperation.

Nigerian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For many years Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, with at least 210 million people, has been wracked by violence related to the activities of armed extremist groups. Most recently, social protests were held over a worsening cost-of-living crisis and alleged bad governance.

FILE - People walk across a normally packed highway during a separatists imposed lockdown in Enugu, Nigeria, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)