US prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, with involvement in a plan to pay more than $250 million in bribes to government officials in India for solar energy contracts.
The 62-year-old billionaire and two Adani Green Energy Limited executives, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vineet Jain, are charged with misleading investors about the company’s compliance with anti-corruption practices as they raised more than $3 billion in capital to fund energy contracts.
Also read: Adani group's bonds tumble after Gautam Adani charged in US with bribery, fraud
Both Adanis and Jain are charged with securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud, according to a CNBC report.
The five-count indictment in US District Court in Brooklyn also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives in Azure Power Global, along with three former employees of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec: Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, the report added.
Although the alleged criminal activity at the center of the indictment occurred in India, the defendants are charged in Brooklyn federal court because of alleged actions that occurred in the Eastern District of New York in connection with the bribery scheme and capital-raise effort.
{{/usCountry}}Although the alleged criminal activity at the center of the indictment occurred in India, the defendants are charged in Brooklyn federal court because of alleged actions that occurred in the Eastern District of New York in connection with the bribery scheme and capital-raise effort.
{{/usCountry}}Also read: Opposition seeks probe into US allegations against Adani
The SEC has filed civil complaints against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, as well as against Cabanes, in connection with alleged bribery that enabled Adani Green Energy and Azure Power to capitalize on solar energy contracts awarded by India’s government.
What are the charges against Gautam Adani?
These are the charges against the billionaire, according to Bloomberg
- Gautam Adani personally met with Indian authorities on numerous occasions to advance the bribery plot.
- Co-conspirators met in person and communicated through an electronic messaging app to discuss execution, including while in the US.
- They made extensive electronic documentation of their bribery efforts, including using cell phones to track the locations and recipients of the promised bribes and photographing a document summarizing the amounts offered.
- They prepared PowerPoint and Excel presentations to determine which payment option was best. One summarized the options suggested by Gautam Adani, and described the direct payment to the Indian Energy Company as a “Development Fee.”
- The defendants often referred to each other by code names including “V,” “snake” and “numero uno minus one.” Gautam Adani was called “Mr A,” “numero uno” and “the big man.”
- Some members of the group destroyed evidence to hide their participation in the scheme, including a PowerPoint analysis and electronic communications.
- Gautam Adani emailed himself photos of each page of the search warrant and grand jury subpoena the FBI handed his nephew and co-defendant Sagar Adani.
Also read: Adani group stocks nosedive; Adani Enterprises, Adani Energy Solutions tank 20%
With PTI, Bloomberg inputs.