A press release said the indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions.
Published Nov 21, 2024 | 9:21 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 21, 2024 | 1:46 PM
Gautam Adani. (Adanigroup website)
A federal court in Brooklyn, the US, indicted Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and seven others on charges of conspiring to commit financial fraud. They were involved in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions based on false and misleading statements.
Lisa H Miller, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said the indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions.
“The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the US Issuer), and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bribery scheme also perpetrated by Gautam S Adani, Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain, involving one of the world’s largest solar energy projects,” the release by the US court said.
Meanwhile, the Adani Group denied all allegations raised by the US court.
“The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied. As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, ‘the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.’ All possible legal recourse will be sought.” Adani Group spokesperson said in a press release.
“The Adani Group has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations. We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws,” the spokesperson added.
It alleged that Adani bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses.
“Gautam S Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” stated James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office.
“As alleged in the indictment, between approximately 2020 and 2024, the defendants agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period,” the release added.
It further alleged that Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution.
This warrant against Adani comes barely a week after he congratulated Donald Trump on his US presidential election win and pledged to invest $10 billion in the country.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
