Adani says Gautam clear of bribery charges as per DoJ indictment

• In stock exchange filing claims no bribery charges against Gautam Adani, nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain as per DoJ indictment
• Trio not charged with violation(s) of US FCPA, excluded from FCPA charges by US DoJ
• Only Azure and CDPQ officials charged with bribery in US DoJ indictment
• All news reports claiming Adani officials charged of bribery or corruption ‘Incorrect’, insists Adani Green Energy

Gautam Adani, nephew Sagar Adani, and Senior Executive Vneet Jaain are clear of any bribery charges as per the US Department of Justice (DoJ), according to the latest filing with stock exchanges by a Group company – Adani Green Energy Ltd. (AGEL).

In its filing, AGEL has cited news reports by various media houses on the bribery and corruption charges against Adani officials ‘Incorrect’. 

“Media articles which state that certain of our directors, namely Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, have been charged with violation(s) of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment are incorrect,” said the statement filed by AGEL. “Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and, Vneet Jaain have not been charged with any violation of the FCPA in the counts set forth in the indictment of the US DoJ or civil complaint of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),” it added.

In a legal indictment, count refers to individual charges against a defendant.

The DoJ indictment, which has five counts, does not have any mention of and has excluded Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, or Vneet Jaain in Count One: ‘Conspiracy to violate the FCPA’; neither does it have mention of these three names in Count Five: ‘Conspiracy to obstruct justice’ (p. 41).

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 dépôt et placement du Québec – a Canadian institutional investor and Azure’s largest shareholder). No Adani official has been named by the 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 being charged with corruption and bribery under one or of all five counts by the US DoJ and SEC.

Adani officials are only charged with Count Two: ‘Alleged securities fraud conspiracy’, Count Three: ‘Alleged wire fraud conspiracy’, and Count Four: ‘Alleged securities fraud.’

No mention of evidence against Adani

The DoJ indictment offers no evidence that bribes were paid by Adani Executives to Indian Government officials; the indictment and the complaint solely rest on claims that bribes were promised or discussed.

“All of this is based on likelihoods and hearsay from former employees of Azure Power and CDPQ – places the US DoJ’s and US SEC’s action against Adani are on dangerously shaky ground – both morally and legally.”

The ill-founded US action and reckless false reporting have led to significant repercussions for the Indian conglomerate, such as international project cancellations, financial market impact, and sudden examination from strategic partners, investors, and the public.

Adani – In direct competition with the US and Chinese majors

Adani Group is India’s largest infrastructure player with sizeable operations in the global energy and logistics space. Over the past few years, the Indian conglomerate has been expanding its operations in international markets and directly competes with several US and Chinese entities in Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Israel, Australia, etc.

Since the intimation of the US DoJ indictment, the Group has suffered a loss of nearly $ 55 billion in its market capitalisation across its 11 listed companies.