Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been indicted by US prosecutors for his alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme, plunging his conglomerate deep into crisis for the second time in two years.
According to a Kashmir Media Service report today, Adani along with seven other defendants faces multiple fraud charges that have already sent the stock and bond prices of Adani Group companies into a tailspin. At the center of the current allegations is Adani Green Energy, one of the group’s flagship companies. In response to the legal turmoil, Adani Green has been forced to cancel a $600 million bond sale, further deepening the crisis.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani and prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement, court records show.
US federal prosecutors said the defendants agreed to pay the bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India’s largest solar power plant project. They also said the Adanis and another executive at Adani Green Energy’s former CEO Vneet Jaain raised more than $3bn in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors. The three were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy. The Adanis were also charged in a parallel US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case.
‘Gautam and Sagar Adani were engaged in the bribery scheme during a September 2021 note offering by Adani Green that raised $750m, including approximately $175m from US investors,’ the SEC said in a press statement. ‘The SEC’s complaint against Gautam and Sagar Adani charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars,’ it added.
The charges follow much turmoil for the Adani Group last year after short-seller Hindenburg Research issued a report that accused it of using offshore tax havens improperly.
The unsealed criminal charges by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York showed some conspirators referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names ‘Numero uno’ and ‘the big man,’ while Sagar Adani allegedly used his cellphone to track specifics about the bribes. None of the defendants is in custody, a spokesperson for US Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said. Gautam Adani is believed to be in India.