US Court Accuses Adani Group of Paying $250 Million in Bribes to Indian Govt

The complaint states that Gautam Adani offered bribes to Indian govt officials in exchange for energy contracts.

A file photo of Gautam Adani.

(Photo: X/GautamAdani)

Billionaire businessman Gautam Adani and other executives have been indicted by a New York court for allegedly offering bribes to Indian government officials in exchange for a project to develop a major solar power plant, US authorities said on Wednesday, 20 November.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that Adani, his nephew Sagar, and other Adani Group executives assured Indian government officials of more than $250 million in bribes in exchange for solar energy contracts. The complaint further states that Cyril Cabanes, a former executive in Indian energy company Azure Power, was also involved in the alleged bribery scheme.

This comes a year after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and fraud.

The SEC states that, while the alleged scheme was being carried out, the Adani Group raised over $750 million from investors and $175 million from US investors. Along with this, Azure Power’s stock was also being traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The indictment alleges that the solar energy contracts were expected to raise over $2 billion in profits after the deduction of taxes over a period of around 20 years.

'Adani Tried to Hide Bribery Attempts from US Investors'

Authorities also stated that Adani personally met with certain Indian government officials to take the project forward between 2020 and 2024.

The SEC added that Adani attempted to hide the alleged bribery attempts from investors in the US to "obtain financing, including to fund those solar energy supply contracts procured through bribery".

Among the documentation referred to in the indictment was a phone to track specific details of the alleged bribes offered, a picture of a document with details on the various amounts of bribes, and PowerPoint and Excel sheets "that summarised various options for paying and concealing bribe payments".

"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,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said in a statement on Wednesday, 20 November.

"These offenses were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors," the statement added.

Adani Group Scraps $600 Million Bond Offering

Following the allegations, the Adani Group said in an exchange filing that they have decided to scrap its $600 million bond offering.

"The United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against our Board members, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani,” the group said.

“The United States Department of Justice have also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such criminal indictment. In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings," it added.

This came amid shares in the Adani Group's listed firms fell between 10 and 20 percent on Thursday, 21 November following the bribery allegations.