Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by federal prosecutors in New York in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to bribe Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms on solar power contracts projected to bring in more than $2bn in profit.
The 62-year-old tycoon, who chairs the multinational conglomerate Adani Group and has been a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was indicted in Brooklyn on charges including securities fraud alongside seven others, including executives of Adani energy subsidiaries and former employees of a Canadian pension fund. His nephew Sagar Adani, who is the executive director at a renewables company founded by Gautam Adani, is also among the defendants.
US prosecutors said more than $250mn in bribes were paid between 2020 and 2024 to people in the Indian government as part of the scheme, which was allegedly concealed from the US banks and investors from which they raised billions of dollars in capital. They claimed that Gautam Adani met with an Indian official to “advance” the scheme.
The US attorney’s office in Brooklyn also charged three former employees of large Canadian pension fund CDPQ in connection with the alleged scheme, saying they obstructed an investigation into the bribes by deleting emails and agreeing to provide false information to the US government. CDPQ, which invests in infrastructure projects, is a shareholder in Adani companies.
The indictments threaten to reignite a public relations crisis for Adani Group, which has spent much of last year trying to move past the damaging claims of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation made by US short seller Hindenburg Research.
“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials,” US deputy assistant attorney-general Lisa Miller said. “These offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.”
Prosecutors further alleged that the defendants “extensively documented their corrupt efforts” on mobile phones, on PowerPoint presentations and in Excel spreadsheets “that summarised various options for paying and concealing bribe payments”.
In a parallel civil lawsuit, the Securities and Exchange Commission said the alleged bribes were paid in order to “secure [the Indian government’s] commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani Green and Azure Power”, two renewable energy companies in India.
Adani Green, which operates one of the largest solar plants in the world, raised more than $175mn from US investors as part of a $750mn corporate bond while the scheme was ongoing, US regulators said.
Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani allegedly “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 programme but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes”, said Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director at the SEC’s enforcement division.
According to the regulator’s complaint, Sagar Adani allegedly told Azure executives and others about “incentives”, or bribes, he had been proposing to “motivate” state officials to agree contracts with the Indian government’s arm responsible for implementing renewable energy programmes.
The Indian group’s founder has over the past two decades built Adani into one of India’s most formidable industrial groups, diversifying from its core ports and trading business into other sectors including mining, airports, coal and renewable power. Outside of India it has built or bid for power, port and other infrastructure projects in several countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Israel and Kenya.
His rise in business, first in India’s western Gujarat state then nationally, has coincided with India’s drive to harness private sector expertise and capital to develop neglected transport and other infrastructure, which has accelerated during Modi’s decade in power.
As shares of his listed companies rose, in 2022 Adani overtook rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s richest man.
In January 2023, New York-based short seller Hindenburg research published an explosive report accusing Adani of share price manipulation and fraud, which wiped billions of dollars off his net worth.
Opposition politicians led by the Indian National Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi called for an investigation and questioned Adani’s record of winning government tenders, as well as his close ties with ruling politicians including Modi, who is also from Gujarat. The Adani Group dismissed the report as an “attack on India” and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and his companies’ share prices have rebounded since 2023 after creditors and regulators shrugged off the controversy.
Adani and Azure did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, CDPQ said: “CDPQ is aware of charges filed in the US against certain former employees. Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is co-operating with US authorities. In light of the pending cases, we have no further comment at this time.”
Read the full article here
