New Delhi: The Adani Group has clarified that neither of the indictments by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had named its executives in the charges of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), or obstruction of justice.
The letter, sent by Adani Green Energy Limited to the Indian stock exchanges Wednesday, quoted several India-based media publications that mentioned the group’s executives allegedly violating FCPA. “Such statements are incorrect,” the letter said.
“Mr. Gautam Adani, Mr. Sagar Adani and Mr. 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 SEC,” the letter said. “These directors have been charged on three counts in the criminal indictment namely (i) alleged securities fraud conspiracy, (ii) alleged wire fraud conspiracy, and (iii) alleged securities fraud.”
The US DOJ indictment—which has five counts—does not mention any Adani executives under the first count: Conspiracy to Violate the FCPA.
The first count exclusively mentions former executives related to Azure Power Global Limited (“APGL”), a Mauritius-based company that operates renewable energy projects in India.
However, the Adani executives were not officially charged under the first count, the DOJ indictment clearly mentions their involvement in carrying out the “conspiracy to violate the FCPA”.
Under the ‘Overt Acts’ section of this charge—which lists out evidence to show that someone intended to commit a crime—the indictment specifically lists communication exchanges between Adani and APGL executives.
These include electronic messages, in person meetings and powerpoint presentations in which they discussed the alleged ‘Bribery Scheme.’
For example, around 20 November 2020, Ranjit Gupta, a former executive of APGL, wrote an email to Sagar Adani relating to efforts undertaken to convince states to purchase power.
“The advantage we have is that the discoms [power distribution companies] are being motivated,” said Gupta in an email.
In fact, the indictment also mentions that around 14 June, 2022, executives of APGL met with Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain where they discussed the ‘Bribery Scheme’.
In a separate development, former Attorney General and Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi addressed a press conference on the matter in his personal capacity and said: “I have gone through this indictment by the US court. My assessment is that there are five charges or five counts. Neither in count 1 (conspiracy to violate FCPA) nor in count 5 (obstruction of justice) is Mr. Adani or his nephew charged.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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