Billionaire Gautam Adani of India's Adani Group indicted in US bribery case (updated)

Azure Power Global

20/11/2024 20:59

(Adds accusations, efforts to obtain comment, details from
complaint, Gautam Adani net worth throughout)
       NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Gautam Adani, the chair of
Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world's richest
people, has been indicted in New York over an alleged
multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, U.S. prosecutors said on
Wednesday.
    Authorities charged Adani and two other executives at Adani
Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, with
agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250 million in
bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy
supply contracts expected to yield $2 billion in profits.
    Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised
more than $3 billion in loans and bonds during this period on
the basis of false and misleading statements.
    Five other people were hit with related criminal conspiracy
charges, including two executives of another renewable energy
company, and three employees of a Canadian institutional
investor.
    Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for
comment outside business hours in India, where the charges were
announced early Thursday morning.
    India's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to
a request for comment.
    According to court records, a judge has issued arrest
warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan
to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement. 
    Seven of the eight defendants are Indian citizens and lived
in India, while the eighth, Cyril Cabanes, is a dual
French-Australian citizen who lived in Singapore, prosecutors
said.
    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related
civil charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Cabanes, 50,
an executive at Azure Power Global. Prosecutors identified
Cabanes as one of the Canadian investor's employees.
    Gautam Adani is worth $69.8 billion, according to Forbes
magazine, making him the world's 22nd richest person.   

 (Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Jonathan Oatis)
 ((luc.cohen@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 361 1622; Reuters
Messaging: Twitter: @cohenluc))