In a major development, Indian industrialist Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group, and seven others, including his nephew Sagar Adani, have been indicted in New York over serious charges of alleged bribery and securities fraud related to solar energy projects in India. The charges were announced by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday, November 20.

According to prosecutors, Gautam Adani, 62, and other executives belonging to Adani Green Energy Limited and and Azure Power Global Limited conspired to pay over $265 million (approximately Rs 2,236 crore) in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts. These contracts were projected to yield profits of nearly $2 billion (Rs 16,880 crore) over 20 years.

The accused, including Sagar Adani, 30, and Vneet S Jaain, a former Adani Green Energy Limited executive, are alleged to have raised over $3 billion (Rs 25,322 crore) through loans and bonds while concealing corrupt activities from investors and lenders.

The charges alleges that following the promise of bribes to Indian government officials between July 2021 and February 2022, state electricity distribution companies for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir entered into power supply agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) – a public sector undertaking, that acts, among other things, as an intermediary for power procurement – under the Manufactured Linked Project. Of this, Andhra Pradesh agreed to purchase seven gigawatts of solar power.

Out of the total amount of Rs 2,029 crore offered as bribes, Rs 1,750 crore was 'offered' to a high ranking official of Andhra Pradesh who was in power from May 2019 to June 2024. The charges also states that Gautam Adani personally met with this officer (called Foreign Official #1 in AP) and offered Rs 1,750 crore in exchange for the official getting AP's state electricity distribution companies to agree to purchase the seven gigawatts of power from SECI.

Authorities revealed that the bribery scheme, which spanned from 2020 to 2024, involved extensive documentation, including phone records, photographs, and financial analyses to track and conceal payments. Gautam Adani is accused of personally meeting an Indian government official to further the scheme. According to the Department of Justice, the defendants frequently met to discuss the bribery scheme, with evidence found on multiple cell phones.

This evidence included a phone used to meticulously track details of the bribes, a photograph of a document summarising various bribe amounts, and PowerPoint and Excel files analysing different methods for making and concealing bribe payments, the statement revealed.

Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain have been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and wire fraud conspiracy. 

In a parallel action, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil complaints against Gautam and Sagar Adani, as well as Cyril Cabanes, an executive at Azure Power Global, for violating anti-fraud provisions of federal securities laws. The SEC alleges that Adani Green Energy and Azure Power used the bribery scheme to secure lucrative solar energy contracts from the Indian government. Adani Green Energy is accused of raising over $175 million from US investors based on false statements.

The indictment also names executives from Azure Power Global and Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. Cyril Cabanes and others are accused of obstructing US federal and SEC investigations. 

The alleged criminal activities central to the indictment occurred in India, but the defendants are being charged in Brooklyn federal court due to actions tied to the Eastern District of New York. These actions involve alleged false or omitted material statements related to a bond issuance that raised capital for solar energy contracts.

None of the defendants are currently in US custody. According to prosecutors, all but one of the defendants reside in India, while the exception, Cyril, is a resident of France and Australia.

Reacting to the charges, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the indictment validates the Indian National Congress’s (INC) calls for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the "Modani scams." Ramesh criticised India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its alleged failure to hold the Adani Group accountable.

"The INC reiterates its demand for a JPC into the transactions of the Adani Group, which is leading to growing monopolisation in key sectors of the Indian economy, fueling inflation, and posing huge foreign policy challenges as well, especially in our neighbourhood," Jairam Ramesh said.

The charges come nearly two years after American short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of accounting fraud, misuse of tax havens, and money laundering and called it the “largest con in corporate history”. While the Adani Group denied those allegations, the report significantly impacted its stock prices, erasing $111 billion in market value.