Adani Green Energy (AGEL) on Wednesday clarified that the group’s chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, the company’s managing director Vneet Jaain have not been charged with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The clarification from AGEL came following reports that the trio have been charged with violations of the US FCPA. Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani is the chairman of AGEL, while Sagar Adani is its executive director.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded his arrest after his indictment in the US and accused the government of protecting him. The reiteration by Rahul comes hours after the Adani Group said the billionaire and his nephew Sagar Adani have not been charged with any violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In response to the growing controversy over corruption allegations, AGEL stated in an exchange filing on November 27 that the reported charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and senior executive Vneet Jaain, as outlined by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), are “incorrect”. In a filing with the stock exchanges, AGEL strongly refuted claims made by various media outlets suggesting that the executives were involved in violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the company added.
“Media reports stating that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain have been charged with violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) are incorrect,” the company said. The statement went on to clarify that these officials have not been named in the DoJ’s indictment or in any civil complaint filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The indictment, which includes five charges, does not mention any Adani executives in connection with conspiracy to violate the FCPA or obstruct justice, said the statement. “These directors have been charged on three counts in the criminal indictment, namely (i) alleged securities fraud conspiracy, (ii) alleged wire fraud conspiracy, and (iii) alleged securities fraud,” the filing said.
“The Count One of the indictment, which refers to the corruption and bribery charges, only involves Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal of Azure Power and CDPQ (Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec - a Canadian institutional investor and Azure’s largest shareholder). No Adani official has been named by DoJ under this. However, flawed understanding of the DoJ indictment by various media-foreign as well as Indian-has led to incorrect and reckless reporting of Adani Directors of being charged with corruption and bribery under or of all five counts by the US DoJ and SEC,” it said.
“They have been charged with offences that are punishable with a monetary fine or penalty,” the company said. The US Department of Justice’s (US DoJ) indictment filed in a New York Court last week does not mention Gautam Adani, founder chairman of the ports-to-energy conglomerate, his nephew Sagar, or Vneet Jaain in any count related to conspiracy to violate the FCPA, Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), said in a stock exchange filing,” it added.
The AGEL is at the heart of the allegation of USD 265-million bribes being paid to Indian officials to secure solar power sale contracts that could bring in USD 2 billion of profits over a 20-year period to the firm. Gautam and Sagar also face a civil complaint over violation of sections of the Securities Act, and aiding and abetting Adani Green to violate the Act.
Former Attorney General and senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi backed Adani Group’s claims saying in his assessment there are five charges or counts and Adani and his aides have not been charged under Count 1 or 5 which deal with allegations of ‘conspiracy to violate the FCPA’ and ‘conspiracy to obstruct justice’ respectively. He said the indictment, equivalent to a chargesheet filed in an Indian court, does not name a single person who was paid a bribe.
Senior advocate and BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani, also spoke with the media on the US charges against Adani and said that given the nature of the indictment, the sketchy evidence and some very important circumstances, this seems to be a “hatchet job”. “It is obvious now that part of the Democratic deep state apparatus… There are two deep states in America, the Republican deep state and the Democratic deep state. The Democratic deep state has, for some reasons after 2023, turned extremely hostile towards the present government. Coming to the indictment itself, first of all no offence is alleged in the indictment against any of the Adanis or Adani Green,” he said.
Adani Group companies have lost about USD 54 billion in market capitalisation since the US indictment. Also, international credit rating agencies, including Moody’s and Fitch, have downgraded their outlook on several Adani firms. These downgrades are based on anticipated increased capital costs and weakened access to funding due to the legal challenges. Another fallout was AGEL cancelling a USD 600 million debt raising through green bonds despite it being subscribed over three times.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said when hundreds of people are arrested on “tiny” charges in the country, why is Adani not in jail? “You think the Adanis are going to accept the charges. Which world are you living in? Obviously, he is going to deny the charges,” Gandhi said when asked about the denial of charges by the Adani Group. “The point is he has to be arrested. As we have said, hundreds of people are being arrested on tiny charges and the gentleman has been indicted in the United States for thousands of crores. He should be in jail... The government is protecting him,” the former Congress chief said.
