Chef apt_repository started failing with SSL verification errors for "'apt_repository[openjdk-r-ppa]'"

Question

I'm using chef for Jenkins slaves and chef-client execution is failing on apt_repository resource. using java cookbook from marketplace version 3.1.2 Chef-client version: 12.17.44

OS: Ubuntu 16.04

See below error from chef-client execution.

Recipe: java::openjdk
* apt_repository[openjdk-r-ppa] action add[2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] ERROR: SSL Validation failure connecting to host: launchpad.net - SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=error: certificate verify failed


           ================================================================================
           Error executing action `add` on resource 'apt_repository[openjdk-r-ppa]'
           ================================================================================

           OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError
           ----------------------
           SSL Error connecting to https://launchpad.net/api/1.0/~openjdk-r/+archive/ppa/signing_key_fingerprint - SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=error: certificate verify failed

           Resource Declaration:
           ---------------------
           # In /tmp/kitchen/cache/cookbooks/java/recipes/openjdk.rb

            46:   apt_repository 'openjdk-r-ppa' do
            47:     uri 'ppa:openjdk-r'
            48:     distribution node['lsb']['codename']
            49:   end
            50: end

           Compiled Resource:
           ------------------
           # Declared in /tmp/kitchen/cache/cookbooks/java/recipes/openjdk.rb:46:in `from_file'

           apt_repository("openjdk-r-ppa") do
             action [:add]
             retries 0
             retry_delay 2
             default_guard_interpreter :default
             declared_type :apt_repository
             cookbook_name "java"
             recipe_name "openjdk"
             uri "ppa:openjdk-r"
             distribution "xenial"
           end

           Platform:
           ---------
           x86_64-linux


       Running handlers:
       [2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
       Running handlers complete
       [2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
       Chef Client failed. 17 resources updated in 27 seconds
       [2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /tmp/kitchen/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
       [2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] FATAL: Please provide the contents of the stacktrace.out file if you file a bug report
       [2021-10-08T12:18:20-07:00] ERROR: apt_repository[openjdk-r-ppa] (java::openjdk line 46) had an error: OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError: SSL Error connecting to https://launchpad.net/api/1.0/~openjdk-r/+archive/ppa/signing_key_fingerprint - SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=error: certificate verify failed
       [2021-10-08T12:18:21-07:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ChildConvergeError: Chef run process exited unsuccessfully (exit code 1)