Key Points
- Gautam Adani and others have been charged in the US for allegedly paying Rs 2,029 crore in bribes to Indian officials.
- The bribes were reportedly paid to secure solar power contracts with India’s SECI between 2020 and 2024.
- The payments were concealed from US investors and banks involved in the project.
- The charges follow a 2023 report accusing Adani Group of fraud and stock manipulation.
- The bribe plan involved using code names and encrypted messages to hide their actions.
Looma News
Gautam Adani is facing serious legal issues as US prosecutors have charged him and his associates with bribery over solar power contracts. Along with his nephew, Sagar Adani, and six others, the Adani Group chairman is accused of paying Rs 2,029 crore (around $265 million) in bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024. The bribes were allegedly offered to secure contracts for solar power projects with the state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The plan was to secure 12 gigawatts of solar energy projects, but the project ran into problems when SECI struggled to find buyers for the electricity. In response, Adani Group and Azure Power, another company involved, reportedly bribed officials to get state electricity companies to sign agreements with SECI.
The indictment reveals that both the Indian energy company and the US Issuer involved in the project paid off officials, especially in Andhra Pradesh. To hide their involvement, they used code names like “Numero Uno” for Gautam Adani and communicated through encrypted messages. Leadership changes at Azure Power during the project complicated the bribery plan. The conspirators allegedly shuffled parts of the project to cover up the bribe payments, giving legal and economic reasons for the transfers. Despite these efforts to hide the bribes, the indictment claims that Gautam Adani was directly involved in influencing SECI’s decisions and directing the reallocation of the project.
This case follows a major 2023 report from the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. These allegations caused a $150 billion loss in the market value of the Adani Group, making Adani’s legal troubles even more complicated.
