Gautam Adani bribery, fraud case: All you need to know about the case

A fivecount criminal indictment has been unsealed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging prominent Indian executives including the Chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani by linking them to an alleged bribery and fraud scheme Reuters reported citing US prosecutorsUS prosecutors charged Gautam Adani 62 his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over USD 250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than USD 2 billion in profitThis they alleged was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the projectUS law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or marketsWhat is Gautam Adani accused ofThe defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars Breon Peace US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York which brought the case said in a statementAdani chairman of the portstoenergy Adani Group his nephew Sagar R Adani who is an executive director at the conglomerates renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy Ltd and its former CEO Vneet Jaain were charged with securities fraud securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy The Adanis were also charged in a US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC civil caseThe fivecount indictment also accuses Sagar and Jaain of breaking federal lawsThe US authorities also charged three former employees of a 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 governmentCDPQ which invests in infrastructure projects is a shareholder in Adani companiesSpecifically on or about March 17 2023 FBI special agents approached Sagar Adani in the United States and pursuant to a judicially authorised search warrant took custody of electronic devices in his possession the court document saidSome conspirators according to the documents referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names Numero uno and the big man while his nephew allegedly used his cellphone to track specifics about the bribesOn or about March 18 2023 the defendant Gautam Adani emailed himself photographs of each page of the search warrant executed and grand jury subpoena served on the defendant Sagar R Adani it saidOthers who were criminally charged include Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal respectively a former CEO and former chief strategy and commercial officer of Azure Power Global which authorities said agreed to pay some of the bribesThe complaint charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctions civil penalties and officer and director barsHow is Azure Power linked to the caseDuring the alleged scheme Adani Green raised more than USD 175 million from US investors and Azure Powers stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange the SEC said in a statementSimultaneously the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed criminal charges against Adani and Sagar Adani Cyril Cabanes and others linked to Adani Green and Azure PowerThe federal indictment unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn charges five others with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery scheme involving one of the worlds largest solar energy projectsWho are the defendants in the caseThe complaint alleged the involvement of Gautam Adani and seven other defendants including his nephew Sagar The other named defendants areAmong the defendants areGautam S Adani 62 Chairman of Adani GroupSagar S Adani 30 Adanirsquos nephewVneet S Jaain 53 Executive at Adani Green EnergyRanjit Gupta 54 Former CEO of Azure Power GlobalRupesh Agarwal 50 Former Chief Strategy Officer Azure Power GlobalCyril Cabanes 50 Former Director Azure Power GlobalSaurabh Agarwal 48Deepak Malhotra 45Which laws are Adani accused of breachingAn arrest warrant has been issued against Adani and his nephew and prosecutors plan to hand the warrants to foreign law enforcement Adani and others allegedly violated antifraud provisions of federal securities laws including the FCPA by misleading US investors about their anticorruption claims Through the scheme they allegedly raised over 3 billion in loans and bonds for the company while hiding the corruption from lenders and investorsWith inputs from Agencies