New Delhi: A US lawmaker has taken aim at the Biden administration for investigating Gautam Adani and the Adani Group, reminding it that India is one of the few “reliable partners” in the region.
Representative Lance Gooden from Texas, in a letter to US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Tuesday, said that the American Department of Justice, instead of focusing on rising “violent crimes at home”, is “pursuing new expeditions to target businesses for alleged injustices abroad”.
Gooden also asked for the DOJ to share if there has been any negotiation regarding the investigations into the Adani Group, and any third-party or entity connected to George Soros.
“What is the DOJ’s contingency plan if India refuses to comply with an extradition request and claim sole authority over the case?” he wrote.
The lawmaker added: “Such reckless acts of pursuit against its top industrialists could start a harmful narrative against India’s growth. Not respecting India’s authority over this matter could strain and even permanently damage our international relations with a strategically important and key economic and political ally.”
Gooden, a Republican Party member, added that the “selective pursuits” of legal cases against foreign companies could “irreparably strain” the US’ global alliances.
He pointedly asked the administration if it is willing to escalate the case against the Adani Group into an “international incident” between Washington D.C. and an “ally” like India, and why no American citizen has been indicted in the case, which allegedly involves “a significant nexus” in the US.
Gooden highlighted that the “true goal” of the investigations against the Adani Group is to disrupt President-elect Donald J. Trump’s agenda to revitalise American industry, and that these investigations would directly “undermine” it. The incoming president is set to take office on 20 January, 2025.
“It would also be wise to pursue cases where the department (of justice) is certain we have appropriate and conclusive jurisdiction, aside from a serious shot at winning,” Gooden further wrote.
As a result of the indictment, the Kenyan government cancelled contracts worth $2.5 billion with the Adani Group, while one of its companies had to cancel plans to raise $600 million through dollar-denominated bonds.
“Targeting entities who invest tens of billions of dollars to create tens of thousands of jobs for Americans only harms us in the long run… It discourages valuable new investors hopeful of investing in our country,” Gooden added.
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The case against Adani
A few weeks after the US presidential election in November, in which Trump beat the Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, the New York Eastern District Court indicted Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and a number of executives for allegedly planning to pay bribes worth Rs 2,029 crore to government officials in India.
The planned bribes were to allegedly ensure that government contracts would be given to the Adani companies. The indictment further alleged that the executives planned to hide this information from US investors, from whom the company raised investments.
The indictment was filed in the court in the Eastern District of New York in late October and made public on 20 November, 2024. The court documents allege that starting sometime in 2020, Ranjit Gupta, who was the CEO of Azure Power Global Ltd—a firm registered in Mauritius—and another employee from the company conspired with Gautam, Sagar, Vneet Jaain and others to pay bribes to the officials in the Indian government.
In exchange, the state-owned electricity distributors would enter contracts with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), so that the Adani companies could retain businesses. These allegations are under investigation by the US Department of Justice.
State-owned distribution companies from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir allegedly entered into contracts with SECI after the alleged promise of bribes to government officials.
The conglomerate rejected the allegations outlined in the US indictment as “baseless” and that it would be looking at all legal remedies in the case.
Also Read: US indictment against Adani ‘legal matter’, no request for cooperation from America, says MEA