Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

How Adani’s alleged bribery scheme began and collapsed

While Adani is not in US custody and is believed to be in India, his company, Adani Group, has called the charges "baseless".

Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, leads a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media. (Photo: Reuters)
Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, leads a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media. (Photo: Reuters)

IN JUNE 2020, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s renewable energy company won what it described as the largest solar development bid ever awarded: an agreement to supply 8 gigawatts of electricity to a state-owned power company.

However, according to US authorities, the deal ran into trouble when local power companies were unwilling to pay the prices offered, jeopardising the agreement. To resolve the issue, Adani allegedly decided to bribe local officials to persuade them to purchase the electricity.


These allegations are at the centre of US criminal and civil charges unsealed on Wednesday against Adani. While Adani is not in US custody and is believed to be in India, his company, Adani Group, has called the charges "baseless" and stated that it would seek "all possible legal recourse."

The alleged scheme involved hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian officials, which came under scrutiny as Adani’s companies raised funds from US-based investors in several transactions beginning in 2021.

This account of the alleged bribery is based on a 54-page criminal indictment filed by federal prosecutors and parallel civil complaints by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which include references to electronic messages among the alleged participants.

In early 2020, the Solar Energy Corporation of India awarded contracts to Adani Green Energy and Azure Power Global for a 12-gigawatt solar energy project.

The project was expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue for both companies.

At that time, Adani Green Energy, managed by Adani’s nephew, Sagar Adani, had only earned around £40 million in its history and had not yet turned a profit, according to the SEC complaint.

Delays soon arose as local state electricity distributors hesitated to commit to purchasing the solar power, expecting prices to fall in the future, according to a 2021 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

SEC filings cite WhatsApp messages exchanged between Sagar Adani and Azure’s CEO at the time, Ranjit Gupta, discussing incentives to address the delays.

On 24 November 2020, the Azure CEO reportedly wrote, “The local power companies are being motivated,” to which Sagar Adani allegedly replied, “Yup ... but the optics are very difficult to cover.” By February 2021, Sagar Adani allegedly told the CEO, “We have doubled the incentives to push for these acceptances.”

(With inputs from Reuters)

More For You

Kendrick Lamar's Multiple BET Awards Victories

Kendrick Lamar on stage after winning Best Video for Not Like Us at the 2025 BET Awards

Getty Images

Kendrick Lamar wins big at 2025 BET Awards with 'GNX' and 'Not Like Us'

There’s no question who ruled the night at the 2025 BET Awards. Kendrick Lamar walked away with five trophies, including Album of the Year for GNX and Video of the Year for Not Like Us. The ceremony, held at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, paid tribute to Black excellence in music, acting, and sports, and Kendrick made sure his voice and message were front and centre.

Kendrick Lamar's Multiple BET Awards VictoriesKendrick Lamar accepts Best Album for GNX at the BET Awards in Los AngelesGetty Images

Keep ReadingShow less
HBO's Harry Potter Casting Sparks Representation Debate

HBO’s Harry Potter reboot slammed for casting Italian actress as Indian character Parvati Patil

Harry Potter Wiki Fandom

HBO criticised for sidelining South Asian identity in 'Harry Potter' casting controversy

HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot is already under fire, this time for casting Italian actress Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, a character rooted in Indian culture. The announcement has triggered widespread backlash from fans who accuse the makers of side-lining authentic South Asian representation in favour of what many see as surface-level diversity.

Parvati, originally portrayed by Shefali Chowdhury in the films, is one of the few explicitly Indian characters in the Harry Potter universe. The decision to cast someone with no clear Indian heritage has led to heated discussions across platforms like Reddit and X, with fans calling out what they perceive as performative inclusivity.

Keep ReadingShow less
Global ChatGPT Outage Affects Millions of Users

Widespread disruption reported

iStock

ChatGPT crashes worldwide – users left stranded without AI assistant

ChatGPT has experienced a significant outage, with OpenAI confirming widespread service disruptions affecting users. The chatbot, known for generating human-like responses and assisting with various queries, has grown rapidly since its launch in November 2022, becoming a widely used AI tool with approximately 500 million users globally.

The issue was first investigated at 7:36 am on Tuesday, with OpenAI later acknowledging the problem on its website at 11:30 am, stating: "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue."

Keep ReadingShow less
Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein jury clashes over MeToo past

Getty Images

Harvey Weinstein sexual crimes trial turns ugly due to jurors' infighting

The tense deliberations in Harvey Weinstein’s New York sex crimes retrial have descended into open conflict. Jurors are reportedly attacking each other, pressuring hold-outs, and improperly considering the disgraced movie mogul’s notorious past, information explicitly banned from their discussions. This internal strife forced the jury foreperson to urgently alert the judge on Monday morning about a “situation which isn’t very good”, casting serious doubt on their ability to reach a fair verdict.

Infighting and forbidden arguments taint deliberations

Keep ReadingShow less