"the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme"
Gautam Adani has been charged by US authorities with fraud for allegedly orchestrating a £198 million bribery scheme to secure lucrative renewable energy contracts in India.
According to prosecutors, Adani and seven other executives bribed Indian government officials, concealed the scheme and made false anti-corruption statements to raise £2.4 billion from US and international investors.
Adani is accused of obstructing inquiries and directly advancing the scheme.
US attorney Breon Peace said: “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 US and international investors.”
Federal prosecutors accused Adani and his associates of orchestrating the scheme to secure lucrative solar energy contracts in India.
The contracts, obtained between 2020 and 2024, are expected to generate over £1.58 billion in profit.
The other named defendants are Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable energy firm listed in the US, and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, employees of a Canadian institutional investor.
The charges come amid increased scrutiny of Gautam Adani’s business practices in India.
In a statement, the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, said:
“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.”
It said the defendants documented the bribery scheme.
In a statement, Adani Group denied the allegations and said all possible legal recourse will be sought.
A spokesperson assured “our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws”.
Gautam Adani’s businesses lost more than £150 billion in combined market value in 2023 after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused his eponymous group of using offshore tax havens improperly.
The group, which recouped some of the losses, denied all of the allegations.
Before the shares in Adani Group companies plummeted, Gautam Adani briefly became the world’s wealthiest person after Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Adani is now the 25th richest person.
He set up the Adani Group in 1988, beginning with commodities trading.
Married to dentist Priti Adani, he has two sons, Karan and Jeet, both of whom are involved in the company businesses, like many others in the family.
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