New Delhi: Adani Group chief Gautam Adani and other senior executives have been charged in a United States court over their alleged roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions on the basis of "false and misleading" statements.
A five-count criminal indictment in the bribery and fraud charges was unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn, as per United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York.
UNI has sent a query to Adani group seeking their response on the alleged charges and the response is awaited.
Meanwhile, shares of Adani group companies tanked as much as 20% on the BSE in early trade on Thursday. Simultaneously, Shares of Adani group flagship company Adani Enterprises fell 20% to Rs 2256.20 apiece on the BSE.
As alleged in the indictment, between approximately 2020 and 2024, the defendants agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period (the Bribery Scheme).
As per the US prosecutors, the indictment was in connection with these alleged 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.
"On several occasions, Gautam S. Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the Bribery Scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution. The defendants frequently discussed their efforts in furtherance of the Bribery Scheme, including through an electronic messaging application," said the media release from United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York.
“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 Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“My Office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets,” Peace further said as bribery charges were announced.
“These offences 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 U.S. investors. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt, deceptive, and obstructive conduct that violates U.S. law, no matter where in the world it occurs,” said Lisa H. Miller, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a press release.
The indictment charges Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and other executives of the Adani group with "conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud" and "substantive securities fraud" for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds based on "false and misleading" statements.
Led by Gautam Adani, the Adani group has emerged as one of the top business conglomerates in the country with interest in infrastructure, green energy, FMCG, mining and logistics.
Reacting to the charges, India's principal opposition Congress party has reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the business conglomerate's affairs.
