Gautam Adani, the Indian industrialist who holds the position of 22nd richest person globally, once again found himself in the spotlight after the US court indicted him in connection with an alleged $250 million bribery scheme. The charges, announced on Wednesday, accused Adani and seven other senior business executives of bribing Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts.
The company’s spokesperson responded to the charges and issued an official statement saying “the allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied."
"As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All possible legal recourse will be sought,” the spokesperson said.
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His net worth tumbled by $12.3 billion to $57.5 billion soon after the announcement, according to a Forbes report. The company’s stocks fell down by 20 per cent during the trading session on Thursday and investors of 10-listed Adani Group counters lost more than Rs 2.60 lakh crore at the market opening tick.
Despite the drop, Adani remains the second richest Asian on the list after Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.
What’s The Case?
As per the case, the US Court charged Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, Vneet S Jaain (an executive of Adani Green Energy) and and Cyril Cabanes (an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd ) of “defrauding American investors and bribing officials through false and misleading statements”.
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“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice. These offenses were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain massive state energy supply contracts,” the statement read.
It stated that Adani and seven others paid approximately $265 million in bribes, expecting these contracts would yield $2 billion in profits over the next two decades. The prosecutors claimed that individuals involved in this scheme used code names such as “Numero Uno” and “The Big Man” to refer to Gautam Adani.
The indictment also alleged that Adani along with his nephew and Vneet concealed the bribery from the US investors and lenders to secure more than $3 billion in loans and bonds for Adani Green Energy. These charges fall under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US law against bribery in foreign business dealings.
“Gautam S. Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the Bribery Scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution. The defendants frequently discussed their efforts in furtherance of the Bribery Scheme, including through an electronic messaging application,” the indictment statement read.
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Other defendants involved in the case are Ranjit Gupta, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal.
The Trump Connect
About a week ago, Adani announced his plans to invest $10 billion in the US energy and infrastructure projects after Donald Trump secured the presidential post. These projects are committed to enhance US energy security and create a resilient infrastructure which can generate 15,000 jobs.
“Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump. As the partnership between India and the United States deepens, the Adani Group is committed to leveraging its global expertise and invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and resilient infrastructure projects, aiming to create up to 15,000 jobs,” Adani wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
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It’s worth noting that Trump has also promised to ease regulations for energy companies. During his victory speech, the US President used the slogan “Drill, baby, drill” to highlight his intent to increased oil and gas production for maintaining the US leadership as the world’s largest oil producer.
The Hindenburg Pattern
History is evident that Adani saga unfolds around fundraising days. If we look back at Hindenburg issue, the US-based research firm issued a report alleging malpractices in the Adani group, including stock price manipulation and corporate governance lapses. Soon after the report came out, the group withdrew Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000-crore FPO that was fully subscribed but received little interest from retail investors.
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The Adani-Hindenburg crisis which started in 2023 started simmering down earlier this year. But it reignited in August 2024 when the US short-seller alleged Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch's involvement in the Adani case.
Similarly, the group’s renewable energy arm ‘Adani Green Energy’ has planned to raise $600 million bond issue which was oversubscribed to 3x. However, the bond was scrapped after the US court announced bribery charges against Adani and other business executives. As per the Bloomberg report, Adani had tried a similar offering last month which had to be postponed after an investor pushback over pricing.
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