New Delhi: Gautam Adani’s nephew Sagar Adani, an executive director on the board of Adani Green Energy, used his ‘cell phone to track details of bribes offered and promised’ to Indian government officials, the indictment unsealed by the US Justice Department alleges.
Criminal charges unsealed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York accuse Adani Group and its business partner, Azure Group, of offering $265 million (Rs 2,029 crore) in bribes to Indian government officials to “obtain and retain” lucrative solar energy contracts. Among those named as defendants are Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, nephew Sagar and Vneet S. Jaain, MD and CEO of Adani Green Energy.
According to the indictment, defendant Ranjit Gupta—then CEO of Azure Power—along with an unidentified individual (Co-conspirator 2) “knowingly and wilfully conspired and agreed with each other and others,” including Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, “to corruptly offer, authorise, promise to pay and to pay bribes to” government officials in India to “cause Indian state electricity distribution companies to enter into contracts” with the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI).
“These offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors,” said Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
On the indictment, FBI Assistant Director in charge James Dennehy was quoted as saying, “Gautam S. Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation.”
The Adani Group in a statement issued Thursday categorically denied the allegations, terming them “baseless”.
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According to the indictment, the defendants documented their alleged bribery efforts, using electronic records to conceal their activities.
Sagar Adani, for instance, allegedly used “his cellular phone to track specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials (the ‘Bribe Notes’).”
These “Bribe Notes” were meticulously organised to include critical information such as state or region in India for which government officials were allegedly offered the bribe; total bribe amount; and approximate amount of solar power expected to be purchased in exchange for the bribe. The US Justice Department alleges that, in most instances, the “Bribe Notes” even identified a per-megawatt rate for the bribe.
Furthermore, the “Bribe Notes” also identified “abbreviated titles” of government officials who were offered or promised the said bribes, as well as how the bribe money was to be divided among different officials within each state or region.
The indictment also states that FBI special agents approached Sagar Adani in the US on 17 March, 2023, with a search warrant which allowed them to take custody of the electronic devices in his possession. Sagar, it adds, was also served a grand jury subpoena.
The search warrant made mention of evidence “related to the payment of or an offer to pay, bribes, kickbacks or provide or offer to provide any other thing of value to Indian government officials in order to obtain or retain business advantages”.
The indictment further names Rupesh Agarwal, a former senior executive at Azure Power Global, a prominent player in India’s solar energy market. Agarwal is accused of preparing several analyses using PowerPoint and Excel to assess “which corrupt payment option was best”.
One of the PowerPoints prepared by him, says the indictment, “summarised the options, described as commercial proposal[s]”.
One of these options, “suggested” by Gautam Adani, involved Azure Energy “directly paying” Adani Green Energy “amounts owed to” Gautam Adani described under the header “development fee”. A second option involved a transfer of all of Azure Power’s manufacturing linked project power purchase agreements (PPAs) to Adani Green Energy.
A third suggested a transfer of “only the 2.3 GW PPAs” to Adani Green Energy, while a fourth option involved Azure Power entering into a joint venture with Adani Green Energy, whereby the latter would “build and operate” the former’s projects in the US.
The indictment describes these options as “corrupt payment analyses”.
The investigation also revealed that the defendants in their communication through electronic messaging platforms, often used code names to avoid detection. For instance, the indictment claims Gautam Adani was referred to as “SAG”, “Mr A”, “Numero Uno” and “the big man”, while Jaain was referred to as “V”, “snake” and “Numero uno minus one”.
The indictment frames charges against the defendants on five counts: Conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Prosecutors allege the defendants went to great lengths to destroy or conceal evidence. In some instances, documents were allegedly deleted, and key communications withheld from internal investigations.
In addition to these allegations, the indictment accuses defendants of making incorrect statements to federal authorities, including the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in an effort to cover up their involvement.
At the heart of this controversy is the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a government agency tasked with spearheading India’s clean energy revolution. Established in 2011, it has been instrumental in facilitating large-scale solar and wind energy projects.
The SECI has been pivotal in the implementation of the National Solar Mission and in securing funding for solar projects across the country.
Its role in the solar energy sector has garnered international recognition, as India strives to achieve its target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030. The agency’s success in tendering large-scale solar projects has positioned it as a model for other countries looking to transition to renewable energy.
Vartika Singh is an intern with ThePrint
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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