US accuses Adani of bribing officials

November 21, 2024 09:52

Gautam Adani

Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by United States prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay $250 million bribes to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

US prosecutors charged Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over $250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than $2 billion in profit.

This, they alleged, was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the project.US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.

The Adani group did not immediately respond to requests for comments.'The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars,' Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the case, said in a statement.Adani, chairman of the ports-to-energy Adani Group, his nephew Sagar R Adani, who is an executive director at the conglomerate's renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy Ltd, and its former CEO Vineet Jain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

The Adanis were also charged in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case.The five-count indictment also accuses Sagar Adani and Jain of breaking federal laws.

CDPQ, which invests in infrastructure projects, is a shareholder in Adani companies.

The indictment may throw the conglomerate again in a turmoil just as it rebounded from US short seller Hindenburg Reseach's damning fraud allegations.

Hindenburg allegations of 'brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud' in January 2023 had led to the conglomerate seeing $150 billion wipeout in market value at its lowest point. The group stocks have since recovered most of the losses.

The Adani Group had denied all allegations made by Hindenburg. -- PTI

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