No bribery allegations against Gautam Adani, nephew: Adani Group on US allegations

The Adani Group party blamed the US for "false and misleading reporting" about the directors of the three companies for a "flawed understanding" of the indictment.

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and senior executive Vineet Jain are clear of any bribery allegations in the US indictment, the Adani Group has clarified. Adani Group’s firm Adani Green also recently termed media reports on the matter as “false” in a stock exchange filing.

“Mr. Gautam Adani, Mr. Sagar Adani and Mr. Vineet Jain have not been charged with any FCPA violations as set out in the US DOJ or US SEC civil complaints,” the Adani Group said in a statement. . . FCPA refers to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The indictment filed by the Justice Department includes five counts, but the first and fifth counts — conspiracy to violate the FCPA and conspiracy to obstruct justice — do not name the three directors, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vineet Jain, it said.

Read: "Charge sheet contains no details on who was bribed": Adani Group lawyer Mukul Rohatgi

Adani Group said in a statement that a "flawed understanding" of the US indictment had led to "inaccurate and reckless reporting" that three Adani Group directors faced corruption and bribery charges.

The US indictment relies solely on the claim that bribes were discussed or promised. The group said Indian government officials have not presented any evidence that Adani executives took bribes.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi later told a press conference that the chargesheet did not specify who was bribed.

Adani's statement said, "US wrongdoing and reckless misreporting have had significant consequences for the Indian conglomerate, including cancellation of international projects, financial market impact and sudden scrutiny from strategic partners, investors and the public."

Read: US charges against Adani Group may be dropped after Trump takeover: Lawyer

Adani Group has suffered a loss of around $55 billion in market capitalisation following US charges against 11 of its listed companies.

Here is the full statement from the Adani Group:

"Gautam Adani, nephew Sagar Adani, and senior executive Vineet Jain, are clear of any bribery allegations filed with the US DOJ, a group company-Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) recently on the stock exchange.

In its filing, AGEL has termed as 'false' reports by various media houses on allegations of bribery and corruption against Adani officials. "Media articles stating that some of our directors Mr. Gautam Adani, Mr. Sagar Adani and Mr. Vineet Jain have been charged with violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment. "Such statements are false," Adani Green Energy Limited said in a statement filed by "Mr. Gautam Adani, Mr. Sagar Adani and Mr. Vineet Jain have not been charged with any violation of the FCPA in the indictment by the US DOJ or the counts set forth in the civil complaint by the US SEC," it added.

The DOJ indictment, which contains five counts, does not mention and excludes Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani or Vineet Jain in Count One: “Conspiracy to Violate the FCPA”; nor does it mention these three names in Count Five: “Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice” (page 41).

Count One, which mentions corruption and bribery charges, includes only Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabness, Saurabh Agrawal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agrawal of Azure Power and CDPQ (Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec – a Canadian institutional investor and Azure’s largest shareholder). The DoJ has not named any Adani officials under this.

However, a flawed understanding of the DoJ indictment by various media outlets—foreign as well as Indian—has led to false and reckless reports that Adani directors have been charged with corruption and bribery by the US DoJ and SEC under one or all five counts.

Adani officials are charged only with Count 2: “alleged securities fraud conspiracy”, Count 3: “alleged wire fraud conspiracy” and Count “alleged securities fraud”.

No evidence against Adani

The DoJ indictment, there is no evidence that Adani officials paid bribes to Indian government officials, the indictment and complaint are based solely on claims that bribes were promised or discussed.

“All of this is based on the potential and hearsay of former Azure Power and CDPQ employees, placing the US DOJ and US SEC’s action against Adani on dangerously shaky ground – both morally and legally,” XYZ said.

The misplaced US action and reckless misreporting have had significant repercussions for the Indian conglomerate, including international project cancellations, financial market impact and sudden scrutiny from strategic partners, investors and the public.