Gautam Adani was indicted in the US for alleged bribery conspiracy
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Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by federal prosecutors in New York in connection with a multi-year scheme to bribe Indian officials in exchange for favorable terms on energy contracts. Solar is expected to bring in profits of more than 2 billion USD.
62 year old tycoon, chairman of a multinational corporation Adani Group and strong supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was indicted in Brooklyn on charges including securities fraud along with seven others, including executives of Adani energy subsidiaries and former employees member of a Canadian pension fund. His nephew Sagar Adani, chief executive officer of a renewable energy company founded by Gautam Adani, is also among the defendants.
US prosecutors said more than $250 million in bribes were paid between 2020 and 2024 to people in the Indian government as part of the scheme, which allegedly concealed banks and US investors let them mobilize billions of dollars of capital from there. They stated that Gautam Adani met with an Indian official to “push” this plan.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn also charged three former employees of major Canadian pension fund CDPQ in connection with the alleged scheme, saying they obstructed the bribery investigation by deleting emails and co-opting providing false information to the United States government. CDPQ, which invests in infrastructure projects, is a shareholder of Adani companies.
The indictments threaten to ignite a public relations crisis for Adani Group, which has spent much of last year trying to overcome damaging allegations of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
“This indictment alleges conspiracies to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials,” said US Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller. “These offenses were allegedly committed by senior directors and officers to obtain and finance major state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud to the detriment of US investors.”
Prosecutors further allege that the defendants “documented many of their corruption efforts” on cell phones, on PowerPoint presentations and in Excel spreadsheets “summarizing various options for payment.” and concealing bribes.”
In a parallel civil lawsuit, the Securities and Exchange Commission said the alleged bribes were paid to “secure [the Indian government’s] Committing to buying energy at a price higher than the market price will benefit Adani Green and Azure Power,” two renewable energy companies in India.
Adani Green, which operates one of the world’s largest solar plants, has raised more than $175 million from US investors as part of a $750 million corporate bond while This plan is ongoing, US regulators said.
Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani are accused of “inciting U.S. investors to purchase Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the board The company’s senior management has not and will not pay or promise to pay.” pay bribes,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director of the SEC’s enforcement division.
According to the regulator’s complaint, Sagar Adani allegedly told Azure executives and others about “incentives” or bribes, that he offered to “promote” officials the state agrees to contract with the Indian government agency responsible for implementing renewable energy programs.
Adani and CDPQ did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
