Adani Group CFO on US indictment: 'None of portfolio companies subject to any legal case'

Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets approvals from its counsel.

Two days after Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani was indicted on bribery charges in the US, the conglomerate's CFO, Jugeshinder Robbie Singh, said that none of Adani Group portfolio companies have been accused of any wrongdoing.

The logo of the Adani Group is seen on the facade of one of its buildings on the outskirts of Ahmedabad,(Reuters)

In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets approvals from its counsel.

“Adani Group has a portfolio of 11 public companies and none are subject to indictment (i.e defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC),” Singh wrote. “None of the issuers ( i.e companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing.”

He also added that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".

“There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing,” Singh said.

The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.

Gautam Adani's indictment

The US Department of Justice has indicted Gautam Adani, the founder of Adani Group, his nephew Sagar Adani, and other senior Adani Green executives for allegedly bribing or offering bribes to the tune of $265 million to Indian state government officials to get them to sign solar power contracts.

The US case rests on the premise that Adani Green bribed government officials in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and possibly Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), to get their power distribution companies (discoms) to commit to purchasing solar power at above market rates.

US authorities allege that the bribes paid were concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the projects that were to supply 12 gigawatts (GW) of solar power. US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.

Adani group has denied the charges and called them “baseless”. The company has asserted that it is fully compliant with all laws.