Online Desk: Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by U.S. prosecutors for his alleged role in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials, plunging his conglomerate deep into crisis for the second time in two years.Multiple counts of fraud – which U.S. authorities say involved a firm that was listed in New York and affected American investors – were levelled against Adani, who is one of the world’s richest people, as well as seven other defendants.
The charges follow much turmoil for the Adani Group last year after short-seller Hindenburg Research issued a report that accused it of using offshore tax havens improperly – which the company denied.Shares and bonds of Adani firms tumbled on Thursday and Adani Green Energy the company at the centre of the allegations, also cancelled a $600 million sale of U.S.-dollar denominated bonds.Arrest warrants have been issued in the U.S. for Adani and his nephew Sagar and prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement, court records show. Sagar is an executive director at Adani Green and currently oversees its “strategic and financial matters”.
Adani Group said in a statement that the allegations were “baseless and denied”, adding that it would seek “all possible legal recourse”.U.S. federal prosecutors said the defendants agreed to pay the bribes to Indian government officials to obtain power supply contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India’s largest solar power plant project.They also said the Adanis and another executive at Adani Green Energy, former CEO VneetJaain, raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.
The three were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy. The Adanis were also charged in a parallel U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case.”Gautam and Sagar Adani were engaged in the bribery scheme during a September 2021 note offering by Adani Green that raised $750 million, including approximately $175 million from U.S. investors,” the SEC said in a press statement, adding that a company central to the scheme, Azure Power, use to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
“The Adani Green offering materials included statements about its anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts that were materially false or misleading in light of Gautam and Sagar Adani’s conduct,” it added.Indian authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), did not respond to requests for comment on the U.S. charges. Azure Power also did not respond to a request for comment.On Thursday,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has been accused by political opponents of favouritism toward Adani in government decisions. Modi and Adani, who both are from the western state of Gujarat, have denied impropriety.India’s Congress party reiterated calls for a parliamentary investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the Adani Group. A probe by SEBI in the wake of the Hindenburg report is ongoing.
