Indian billionaire Gautam Adani of the Adani Group and two other officials of Adani Green Energy, Sagar Adani (the chairman’s nephew) and Vneet Jaain, have been named by the US federal prosecutors in a billion-dollar fraud and bribery scandal. They are said to have provided more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials to win solar contract deals worth billions.
The US Attorney Breon Peace added, “The defendants deployed a well-coordinated and highly-executed plan to faction Indian officials with bribes to award them tendering contracts.” The charges were made in a New York court – While many critics have emerged since the Hindenburg Research’s report in January 2023 stating that Adani Group engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
It accuses Adani Green of misrepresenting compliance with anti-corruption standards, which allowed the firm to obtain more than $3bn in loans and bonds. Further, it was anticipated that the energy projects which are associated with the contracts would generate $2 billion in profits.
Five other people including ex senior executives of Azure power global and officers of Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec have also been accused of conspiring to violate FCPA.
The Adani Group has not responded to these latest allegations yet. It has also in the past utilized the fact that, it complies with governance standards particularly in handling of bribery and corruption cases.
However, Gautam Adani is still Asia’s second wealthiest person to date, worth $ 855 billion. His group’s shares had recover from Hindenburg report problem earlier this year.
On the same note; the United States law provides federal prosecutors with the mandate to investigate foreign corrupt practices where the Americans have an interest or practicing in the foreign country’s markets, thus linking Adani Group’s operation to global anticorruption norms.
