U.S. prosecutors in New York have charged the Chairman of Adani Group Gautam S. Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six others for allegedly bribing Indian government officials with Rs 2,029 crore (approximately US $265 million). The bribes were allegedly made to acquire lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the state electricity distribution companies in India.

What are the charges?

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the indictment points out the scheme of paying over $250 million in bribes to Indian officials, misleading investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and obstructing justice. U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa H. Miller explained, “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice.”

Other six people named in the indictment are:

Vneet Jaain, CEO at Adani Green Energy Ltd

Ranjit Gupta, former CEO of Azure Power Global Ltd (2019-2022)

Rupesh Agarwal, former executive at Azure Power (2022-2023)

Cyril Cabanes, Australian and French citizen

Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, executives with a Canadian institutional investor

What was the bribery scheme about?

The case revolves around solar energy contracts awarded to Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Azure Power Global Ltd. The two companies won bids to supply solar power to the state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) at fixed rates. However, SECI struggled to find state electricity distribution companies to purchase the power. To resolve this, the defendants allegedly devised a scheme in 2020 to offer bribes to Indian government officials, persuading them to get state electricity distribution companies to sign power supply agreements.

One of the key figures in the scheme is described in the indictment as “Foreign Official #1,” a high-ranking government official from Andhra Pradesh. It is alleged that Rs 1,750 crore (about $228 million) in bribes were promised in exchange for securing power purchase agreements for seven gigawatts of solar power. Gautam Adani personally met this official three times between August and November 2021 to help push the deal through.

How did the Adani Group respond?

An Adani Group Spokesperson confirmed that the company will release a statement soon and added that this is an allegation. Sources close to the Adani Group have also clarified that the defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Besides that, the SEC has also charged Gautam and Sagar Adani, along with Cyril Cabanes, in connection with the bribery scandal. The SEC filed complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York regarding the activities of Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Azure Power executives.

The indictment has drawn attention to the Adani Group’s ties with the Indian government and its global business ventures. After the U.S. Presidential elections, Gautam Adani posted on X (formerly Twitter), congratulating Donald Trump and outlining plans for a $10 billion investment in U.S. energy security.

Reacting to the legal action, General Secretary of the Congress party Jairam Ramesh has stated, “The indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the SEC vindicates the demand that the Congress has been making since January 2023 for a JPC investigation into the various Modani scams.” This statement calls for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Adani-related scandals, further intensifying political discourse in India.