Adani’s US ‘arrest warrant’ over bribery: Foreign media points to ‘text trail, ties with Modi’

Update: At 1:41 pm on November 21, 2024, Adani Group-owned NDTV Profit published a report saying that the conglomerate denies the allegations against it and will seek legal recourse.

The US federal court has charged businessman Gautam Adani with securities fraud, conspiracy, and bribery, accusing him of offering Rs 2,029 crore in bribes to Indian government officials to secure “lucrative solar energy supply contracts” with state electricity distribution companies, according to a press release by the US Attorney’s Office. 

An arrest warrant has also been issued against the Adani Group chairman, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six others named in the matter “for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements”. The warrant will be handed over to foreign law enforcement authorities, according to media reports. 

The others named in the case are: Vneet S Jaain, CEO of Adani Green Energy; Ranjit Gupta, former CEO of Azure Power Global; Rupesh Agarwal, formerly worked with Azure Power; and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, employees with a Canadian institutional investor.

The US government’s statement said the solar contracts were “projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax” over 20 years, and on “several occasions” between 2000 and 2024, Gautam Adani “personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme”. 

Indian publications extensively reported on the matter. But until 12:30 pm, Newslaundry could not find any coverage of it on NDTV’s website.

What did the foreign media say?

“Adani, one of Asia’s richest people and a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was indicted in Brooklyn on charges including securities fraud and conspiracy. The SEC has filed parallel charges in the ‘massive bribery scheme’,” read a report in the Financial Times. 

The report added that the Adani Group’s shares tumbled after the tycoon was accused of “lying to investors to land lucrative contracts”. 

In early trade today, the Adani Group witnessed its largest stock market fall since the time it came under a short-seller attack in February 2023 after the Hindenburg Research allegations of “brazen stock manipulation”, “accounting fraud” and “money laundering”, said a report in the Guardian.

A PBS report said that the Indian businessman, who “built his fortune in the coal business” in the 1990s, “is accused of defrauding investors who poured several billion dollars into the project by failing to tell them about a plan to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts”. 

A report in the CBS pointed out that the case involves an “arrangement for Adani Green Energy and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government — enough to light millions of homes and businesses” and that the indictment “portrays Adani and his co-defendants of playing two sides of the deal”. It said that the regulator “is seeking monetary penalties and other sanctions”.

A BBC report said that “reports of this bribery probe have been circling for months. Prosecutors said the US started investigating the company in 2022, and found the inquiry obstructed.” It said that the executives “raised $3bn in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements”. 

The Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment, said a Guardian report.

A trail of text messages

The Washington Post report cited details from the 54-page indictment to give an insight into the “bribery scheme”. It said that Gautam Adani is accused of “personally having in-person discussions with an Indian official in connection with the bribery arrangements”.

“Sagar Adani had notes on his cellphone that tracked the region where a bribe was paid, the amount paid and the expected contract size for solar power business that his company would be expected to provide in return.” It said that text messages allegedly revealed that other Adani Group associates attempted to destroy evidence and mislead federal investigators. 

A report in ABC said that according to court documents, “some of the defendants referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names ‘Numero uno’ and ‘the big man’.” “A New York judge has issued a warrant for Mr Adani's arrest, which will be given to foreign law enforcement, court records show.”

The report also pointed out that an “Australian businessman is among Adani’s co-accused”. “Australian businessman Cyril Cabanes, who also holds French citizenship, was working for the Canadian investor in Singapore” and he has been accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US anti-bribery law.

It also highlighted the criticism directed towards Adani Group’s Australian subsidiary, Bravus, which owns Central Queensland’s Carmichael coalmine, “one of the most contentious mining projects in Australian history”. There have been protests against the project over its impact on the Great Barrier Reef, groundwater and carbon emissions.

Close ties with Modi in spotlight

The New York Times reported that, as per the indictment, Adani Green Energy “tried to raise money from US and international investors with a 2021 bond offering on the basis of false and misleading statements about the firm’s anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts”.

The report also noted that Adani’s “political connections have set him apart”. It said that his personal relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has helped Mr Adani’s company win lucrative contracts. In some instances, the government has changed bidding rules to help the company gain control of airports.”

“Mr Adani and Mr Modi are both from the state of Gujarat, and when Mr. Modi became prime minister in 2014, he flew to New Delhi on an Adani plane. Their relationship has created a widespread perception in India that Mr Adani can forge any deal he wants, and that there is an uneven playing field.”

“US charges tycoon Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials,” read the headline of a report in Fox News. It noted that “Adani Group has stated its goal of becoming the country’s biggest player in the space by 2030” and “Adani’s close ties with the government and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi have at the same time drawn criticism”. It further said that Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has also demanded a parliamentary inquiry into Adani’s activities.

A report titled “Indian magnate Gautam Adani charged in US over massive bribery scheme” on France24 was unavailable at the time of writing this report. “The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore”.

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