Adani Group reacts to US ‘bribery’ charges against Gautam Adani: ‘Baseless’

Gautam Adani charged in US: The Adani Group on Thursday rejected charges made by United States prosecutors that its chairman Gautam Adani had paid more than $250 million in bribes to secure lucrative government contracts.

“The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied,” the Adani conglomerate said in a statement.

US prosecutors have charged billionaire Gautam Adani for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over USD 250 million (about ₹2,100 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts.

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Commenting on the development, the Adani group spokesperson pointed to US Department of Justice statement said “the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty”.

“The Adani Group has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations. We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws,” the spokesperson added.

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What are the charges against Gautam Adani?

These are the charges against the billionaire, according to Bloomberg:

• Gautam Adani personally met with Indian authorities on numerous occasions to advance the bribery plot.
• Co-conspirators met in person and communicated through an electronic messaging app to discuss execution, including while in the US.
• They made extensive electronic documentation of their bribery efforts, including using cell phones to track the locations and recipients of the promised bribes and photographing a document summarizing the amounts offered.
• They prepared PowerPoint and Excel presentations to determine which payment option was best. One summarized the options suggested by Gautam Adani, and described the direct payment to the Indian Energy Company as a “Development Fee.”
• The defendants often referred to each other by code names including “V,” “snake” and “numero uno minus one.” Gautam Adani was called “Mr A,” “numero uno” and “the big man.”
• Some members of the group destroyed evidence to hide their participation in the scheme, including a PowerPoint analysis and electronic communications.
• Gautam Adani emailed himself photos of each page of the search warrant and grand jury subpoena the FBI handed his nephew and co-defendant Sagar Adani.