Gautam Adani accused in US of multi-million bribery: what are the charges? What you should know

Industrialist Gautam S. Adani, his nephew Sagar S. Adani and several executives of his company Adani Green Energy have been charged in the U.S. in connection with a $250 million bribery scheme in India for obtaining renewable energy contracts that, once projected profits were realized, would fetch more than $2 billion. tax.

The allegations disclosed by the US Department of Justice late Wednesday (November 21) concerned the involvement of several Adani officials in bribing Indian officials as part of a multi-year program spanning 2020-2024. These bribes were hidden from American investors whom the Adani group approached to raise billions of dollars.

The charges are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The FBI, along with other financial crime agencies, is investigating.

Watch: Gautam Adani charged by US over alleged $250 million bribery conspiracy

Gautam S. Adani and other business executives “allegedly bribed the Government of India to finance lucrative contracts to benefit their businesses” and “defrauded investors by raising capital based on false representations about bribery and corruption… (and) allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy, obstructing the government’s investigation,” said the FBI deputy director in charge of Dennehy.

The crimes involved “massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of American investors.”

“The Division of Criminal Justice will continue to aggressively pursue corrupt, fraudulent and obstructive conduct that violates U.S. law, no matter where in the world it occurs.” the release quoted Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa H. Miller as saying.

Here are the details and specific allegations against Adani and his executives, along with Adani Green’s response.

The Justice Department said Adani executives pursued a scheme to “pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and conceal” the scheme from American investors.

Bribes allegedly worth more than $250 million were promised to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts, said a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

The U.S. Department of Justice named defendants Gautam S. Adani, 62; Sagar S. Adani, 30; Vneet S. Jain, 53; Ranjit Gupta, 54; Cyril Cabanes, 50; Saurabh Agarwal, 48; Deepak Malhotra, 45; and Rupesh Agarwal, 50.

> A five-count indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn accused Adani executives of “conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantial securities fraud” as part of a multibillion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions based on false and misleading statements.

> Specifically, it charged Ranjit Gupta, Rupesh Agarwal, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

They allegedly orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure billions of dollars in contracts.

> Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about a bribery scheme in an attempt to raise capital from U.S. and international investors, United States Attorney Peace Breon Peace said in announcing the charges.

>The scheme involved providing more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, lying to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and obstructing justice, said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller.

> From 2020 to 2024, they allegedly bribed Indian government officials for contracts estimated to generate $2 billion in after-tax profits over 20 years.

> “On several occasions, Gautam S. Adani met in person with an Indian government official to further the bribery program, and the defendants held personal meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its implementation,” the Justice Department alleged.

> Management “frequently discussed its bribery program efforts,” including via electronic messaging applications, and “extensively documented its corrupt activities.”

> Sagar R. Adani, he alleged to the US Department, “used his cell phone to track specific details of bribes offered and promised to government officials.”

> Vneet S. Jaain used his cell phone to photograph a document summarizing the various amounts of bribes the U.S. issuer owed the company for a corresponding portion of the bribes.

> Rupesh Agarwal “prepared and distributed to other defendants numerous analyzes using PowerPoint and Excel” summarizing various options for paying and concealing the payment of bribes.

> Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain “conspired to misrepresent” Adani Green’s anti-bribery and corruption practices and conceal the program from U.S. investors and international financial institutions in order to obtain financing, it alleges.

> Gautam S Adani, Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain caused Adani Green Energy and certain of its subsidiaries to “raise capital on the basis of false and misleading representations in connection with two syndicated loans denominated in US dollars aggregating over Rs. billion dollars from investors and two bond offerings worth more than $1 billion guaranteed by international financial institutions that were brought to market and sold to U.S. investors, it said US Department of Justice.

> Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain caused Adani Green to “make false statements in its consolidated financial statements and misrepresent to the market and investors regarding the bribery scheme,” it alleges.

> Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal “conspired to obstruct the grand jury and FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations into the bribery scheme, the indictment said.

> Agreed to remove electronic material related to the bribery scheme, including emails, electronic messages and “bribery analyses.”

> They later withheld material information from an internal investigation conducted by a US investment company and “falsely denied participation” in the program to representatives of the FBI, the Department of Justice and the SEC at meetings in Brooklyn, New York. For this reason, Cabanes, Agarwal, Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Adani Green said in a statement: “The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against members of our Board of Directors, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, The United States Department of Justice has also charged our Board member, Vneet Jaain, with such indictment.”

In light of these developments, it added that “our subsidiaries have currently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD-denominated bond offerings.”