{"id":10503,"date":"2024-11-21T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T13:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=10503"},"modified":"2024-11-21T13:26:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T13:26:14","slug":"gautam-adani-indicted-in-us-over-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-in-bribes-to-indian-govt-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=10503","title":{"rendered":"Gautam Adani Indicted in US Over ‘Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Bribes to Indian Govt Officials’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US Attorney’s Office statement says that Adani is accused of personally being involved in the scheme, that he met with an Indian government official to advance the scheme, which took place between 2020 to 2024. The Adani Group has denied the charges.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Attorney\u2019s Office of the United States have charged billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani over his alleged role in what they have called is a \u201cmassive bribery scheme.\u201d The Adani Group has called the charges \u201cbaseless\u201d and denied them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US law allows foreign corruption allegations to be investigated if they involve links to US markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Attorney\u2019 Office has it in its statement that Adani is accused of personally being involved in the scheme, that he met with an Indian government official to advance the scheme, which took place between 2020 to 2024. \u201cThe defendants frequently met and discussed the bribery scheme, including evidence on several phones,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore than $250 million was promised in bribes to Indian government officials, to secure solar energy contracts,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani, who heads the Adani Group, and his nephew Sagar have been indicted for their roles as executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd. Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd, has also been charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In parallel action, the Attorney\u2019s Office\u2019s five-count criminal indictment in a federal court in Brooklyn charges along with Gautam and Sagar Adani, Vneet S. Jaain, with \u201cconspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.\u201d The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGautam S. Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government\u2019s investigation,\u201d stated FBI assistant director in charge James E. Dennehy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg<\/em> had reported<\/a> in March this year that such an investigation was afoot. The Adani Group had then told the news outlet that it was not aware of any such probe against chairman Adani. \u201cAs a business group that operates with the highest standards of governance, we are subject to and fully compliant with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws in India and other countries,\u201d it had said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani group stocks faced a heavy drubbing during early trade today, with Adani Energy and Adani Enterprises tumbling 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the Adani Group officially responded, Adani Green Energy Ltd announced the decision to halt its proposed $600-million dollar-denominated bond issue. \u201cThe company announced its decision to scrap the bond issue in a regulatory filing, citing the indictment as the reason for its subsidiaries\u2019 plans to defer the bond offering,\u201d a report<\/a> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani response: \u2018We are a law-abiding organisation\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a media statement, the group has said that allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against the directors of Adani Green are \u201cbaseless and denied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sought to remind readers that the charges were allegations at present, quoting the US Department of Justice\u2019s own disclaimer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs stated by the US Department of Justice itself, \u201cthe charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.\u201d All possible legal recourse will be sought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that it has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to \u201cmaintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney\u2019s office charges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Attorney\u2019s Office breaks down the charges as such:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026[B]etween 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).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noting, as mentioned above, that on several occasions, Gautam 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 indictment says that defendants \u201cfrequently discussed their efforts in furtherance of the bribery scheme, including through an electronic messaging application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, in 2021, the Communist Party of India (CPI) had demanded<\/a> the Andhra Pradesh government disclose the details of a secret meeting between then chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Adani, following which the Andhra Pradesh state cabinet adopted resolutions to allow Adani group to set up 9,000 megawatt solar power plants in the state. The party had asked why the contract was given to Adani alone when several contractors, and some closer home, could be divided the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Adanis and the other indicted executives also extensively documented their corrupt efforts, the Attorney Office indictment alleges. \u201cFor example, Sagar R. Adani used his cellular phone to track specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials; Vneet S. Jaain used his cellular phone to photograph a document summarizing various bribe amounts the U.S. Issuer owed the Indian Energy Company for its respective portion of the bribes; and Rupesh Agarwal prepared and distributed to other defendants multiple analyses using PowerPoint and Excel that summarized various options for paying and concealing bribe payments (Bribery Analyses).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain also allegedly conspired to misrepresent Adani Green\u2019s anti-bribery and corruption practices and conceal the bribery scheme from US investors and international financial institutions in order to obtain financing, including to fund those solar energy supply contracts procured through bribery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian stock exchanges mentioned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is noteworthy that the US Attorney\u2019s Office noted that in March this year, Individual #2 [names of some individuals and financial institutions have been anonymised in the public copy of the indictment] \u201cemailed employees of Financial Institution #2, Financial Institution #3 and Financial Institution #4 letters that the Indian Energy Company had sent to the National Stock Exchange of India and BSE Limited, both Indian stock exchanges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said, \u201cThe letters falsely stated, among other things, that the Indian Energy Company \u201chas not received any notice from the Department of Justice of U.S. in respect of the allegation referred to in the [2024 News Article]\u201d and that the Indian Energy Company was \u201caware of an investigation\u201d into potential violations of United States anti-corruption laws by a \u201cthird party.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEC charges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the SEC\u2019s allegations, the bribery scheme was orchestrated to enable the two renewable energy companies to capitalise on a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project that the companies had been awarded by the Indian government. \u201cDuring the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised more than $175 million from US investors and Azure Power\u2019s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange,\u201d the statement by the SEC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

According to the SEC\u2019s complaint, Gautam and Sagar Adani \u201corchestrated a bribery scheme that involved paying or promising to pay the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials\u201d to secure their commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani green and Azure Power.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The scheme was allegedly in play in 2021, when in a note offering, Adani Green claimed that it raised $750 million, including approximately $175 million from US investors. \u201cThe Adani Green offering materials included statements about its anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts that were materially false or misleading in light of Gautam and Sagar Adani\u2019s conduct,\u201d the SEC has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charge against Cyril Cabanes, a former member of Azure Power\u2019s Board of Directors, is under the US\u2019s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to the SEC\u2019s complaint, Cabanes allegedly facilitated the authorisation of bribes in furtherance of the scheme while in the United States and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the company\u2019s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes, and Cyril Cabanes participated in the underlying bribery scheme while serving as director of a US public company,\u201d said Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC\u2019s Division of Enforcement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to vigorously pursue and hold individuals, including senior corporate officers and directors, accountable when they violate our securities laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/thewire.in\/world\/gautam-adani-indictment-us-millions-bribery-scheme<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Attorney’s Office statement says that Adani is accused of personally being involved in the scheme, that he met with an Indian government official to advance the scheme, which took place between 2020 to 2024. The Adani Group has denied the charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Attorney\u2019s Office of the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[6354,6352,6353,105,39,6356,6355,6357],"class_list":["post-10503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-bribes","tag-corrupt-government-in-india","tag-corruption-in-india","tag-geopolitics-2","tag-india","tag-india-got-bribes-from-us","tag-indian-government-received-bribes","tag-serious-allegation-on-indian-government"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10505,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10503\/revisions\/10505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}