US prosecutors charge Gautam Adani in bribery case

US PROSECUTORS have charged billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani with paying bribes worth hundreds of millions of pounds and concealing the payments from investors.

Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, leads a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media. He has faced allegations of corporate fraud and a significant stock crash in recent years.

According to US prosecutors, Adani agreed to pay over £198 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure profitable solar energy supply contracts. The contracts were estimated to generate post-tax profits exceeding £1.59 billion over about 20 years.

Prosecutors confirmed that none of the defendants, including Adani, are in custody. They allege that one of Adani's associates meticulously documented bribe payments, recording details on his phone.

"This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250m in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," said deputy assistant attorney general Lisa Miller.

Adani Group has rejected the charges. "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 conglomerate said in a statement, adding that "all possible legal recourse will be sought"."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," the statement added.

Allegations of bribery and obstruction

FBI official James Dennehy said, "Gautam Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses... while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government's investigation."

Adani, who describes himself as an introvert, is known for avoiding media appearances and often delegates public engagements to his team.

Born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to a middle-class family, Adani dropped out of school at 16 and moved to Mumbai to work in the gem trade. After working briefly in his brother's plastics business, he established the Adani Group in 1988, starting with export trading.

Adani's significant break came in 1995 when he secured a contract to develop and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat.

Concerns about Adani Group's rapid expansion into capital-intensive sectors have been raised before. In 2022, CreditSights, a Fitch subsidiary, warned that the conglomerate was "deeply over-leveraged."

In 2023, a report from US-based Hindenburg Research accused Adani Group of engaging in stock manipulation and accounting fraud over several decades. The report also pointed to what it described as "government leniency towards the group," which it claimed discouraged criticism from investors, journalists, and politicians due to fear of reprisal.

(With inputs from AFP)