The indictment, the Questions of What and Why?
The Adani Group Chairman, Gautam Adani, along with his nephew Sagar Adani and six others, were charged by US prosecutors in New York on Wednesday (November 20) with an alleged Rs 2,029 crore bribery case.
The charges suggest that bribes were allegedly paid to Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts for solar energy supplies to state electricity distribution companies.
The indictment details schemes to funnel over $250 million in bribes to government officials, to deceive investors and banks into financing billions of dollars worth of projects, and to obstruct legal proceedings.
A formal accusation, known as an indictment, is issued by a prosecutor and a grand jury against an individual or entity accused of a crime. Indictments inform the accused of their alleged wrongdoing and allow them to seek legal representation to defend themselves.
The Adani Group’s involvement extends to Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani (the son of Rajesh Adani, the brother of Gautam Adani, and the Executive Director of Adani Green Energy Ltd), along with Vneet Jaain (CEO of Adani Green Energy Ltd), Ranjit Gupta (CEO of Azure Power Global Ltd from 2019 to 2022), Rupesh Agarwal (who worked at Azure Power from 2022 to 2023), Cyril Cabanes (a dual citizen of Australia and France), Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra (who worked with a Canadian institutional investor).
The case involves the “Indian Energy Company” and a “US Issuer” that were awarded contracts to supply 8 gigawatts and 4 gigawatts of solar power at a fixed rate to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SCI).
SCI was tasked with selling this power to state-owned electricity distribution companies. However, due to a lack of buyers, SCI was unable to finalize power purchase agreements with Adani Group and Azure Power.
In response to these allegations, the Adani Group has decided to cancel its $600 million bond issuance. Adani Green Energy had planned to use the proceeds from this bond sale to repay a foreign-currency loan.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various “scams” involving the Adani Group. Congress’s communications spokesperson, Jairam Ramesh, has stated that the indictment supports the call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe. He also called for the appointment of a new and credible head for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to oversee the investigations into the ‘Adani MegaScam’.
