Indian billionaire industrialist, Gautam Adani along with seven others, has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly paying hundreds and millions of dollars in bribes to win lucrative contracts.
Prosecutors allege that the chairman of Adani Group orchestrated a $250 million bribery scheme involving Indian government officials, all to secure lucrative solar energy contracts.
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the solar contracts would have generated a profit of over $2 billion over roughly 20 years.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.
Details of the allegations
The allegations, revealed in a five-count indictment, involve Gautam Adani and his nephews Sagar R. Adani and VIneet S. Jaain, both executives in the group’s renewable energy businesses.
“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 U.S. 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.”
Prosecutors claim that Adani and his associates promised bribes to Indian officials in exchange for contracts projected to generate over $2 billion in after-tax profits over two decades. To further their goals, they allegedly misled investors and banks while attempting to conceal the scheme from authorities.
“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” said Lisa Miller, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
“Gautam Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses… while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” said the FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy.
Prosecutors said that one of Adani’s accomplices meticulously recorded bribery payments on their phone.
According to US prosecutors, neither Adani nor the other defendants are in custody.
Adani group under scrutiny
The charges follow earlier accusations of fraud by Hindenburg Research. In 2023, Hindenburg’s report alleged that Adani’s conglomerate engaged in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”.
Adani’s reputation as a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has added to the controversy. Hindenburg, in its report, claimed, there was a pattern of “government leniency towards the group” stretching back decades, which had left investors, journalists, citizens and politicians unwilling to raise concerns “for fear of reprisal.”
(With inputs from agencies)