Yet over the next year and a half, Adani Group did not disclose to financial institutions, stock markets, or investors that it was under investigation by the U.S. government. In March 2024, when an article was published about the Adani Group being under US investigation for potential corruption, the conglomerate denied knowledge of it.

But on Wednesday, details of the investigation were made public. Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and six others were charged with bribery, securities fraud, wire fraud and related conspiracies by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. An indictment outlines the allegations against them.

According to court documents cited by Reuters on Thursday, a judge issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and others, which will be handed over to Indian agencies.

The indictment alleges that Adani and his nephew, instead of lawfully responding to investigations, “caused others to make false and misleading statements regarding the bribery scheme to investors, potential investors and investors.” financial institutions”.

On Thursday, after the indictment was made public, Adani Group said it had decided not to proceed with its $600 million bond offering in the United States.

Corruption in India

The origins of the case lie in the Indian solar energy sector.

As detailed in court documents, between December 2019 and July 2020, the central government-run Solar Energy Corporation of India awarded tenders to the Adani Group and another company, Azure Power, to supply 12 gigawatts of electricity produced by solar energy at a specified price. .

SECI, in turn, had to find public power companies willing to buy the electricity at that price.

When SECI was unable to find public buyers due to high prices, according to court documents, Adani and Azure Power conspired to “design a scheme to offer, authorize, pay and promise to pay pots – wine to the Indian government. “officials” to get state-owned companies to enter into power sales agreements, or PSAs, with SECI. This would allow the central government company to sign power purchase agreements with them.

According to the court document, Gautam Adani personally met a senior Andhra Pradesh official between August and November 2021 as part of this alleged corruption scheme. This official, whose name is not identified in the document, was in power from May 2019 to June 2024.

The court order alleged that bribes amounting to Rs 2,029 crore were offered, including a bribe of Rs 1,750 crore offered specifically to the Andhra Pradesh official.

Besides Andhra Pradesh, SECI subsequently signed agreements with state-owned enterprises in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir, which facilitated business for the Adani Group and Azure Power.

Investments raised in the United States

As of December 2023, the five project companies established in the five Indian states with which energy agreements have been signed have raised $1.36 billion in the United States through senior secured dollar-denominated loans, a credit provided by a group of global financial institutions.

The court document points out that in the loan agreement, the Adani group gave false assurances about its anti-corruption practices and claimed to have zero tolerance for corruption. Even the Adani Group company’s annual reports between 2021 and 2024 contained “false and misleading statements” about its “anti-corruption practices”.

In March 2024, an additional $409 million was raised by an Adani joint venture in the form of senior secured notes. The circular to investors contained “false and misleading assurances” regarding corporate governance and “maintaining transparency and compliance in all aspects of operations”.

An Adani Group spokesperson denied all allegations and said: “The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against the directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied. As the U.S. Department of Justice itself stated, “The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.” “All possible legal remedies will be sought.”

This article is part of a collaborative series reporting on the US charges against Adani.