New Delhi: The Adani Group has categorically denied allegations by US authorities that chairman Gautam Adani and several others conspired to pay bribes to officials in various Indian state governments to ensure that a business deal went through for the conglomerate.
A US court late Wednesday night (India time) indicted Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and others for allegedly planning to offer Rs 2,029 crore of bribes to government officials, as well as conspiring to hide this from US investors who lent money to the company, and obstructing probe by US authorities into the matter.
“The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied,” an Adani Group spokesperson said in a statement.
“As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, ‘the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty’,” the statement said, adding that “all possible legal recourse will be sought”.
The Adani Group’s statement comes soon after Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, held a press conference on the allegations, in which he also questioned why the group had not yet responded to the charges.
“The Adani Group has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations,” the group’s statement added. “We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws.”
Several Adani Group stocks fell about 20 percent on Indian stock markets on Thursday. In addition, Adani Green Energy, the subsidiary implicated in the indictment, said it was putting on hold its plans to raise $600 million in US dollar denominated bonds.
“The United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against our Board members, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani,” Adani Green Energy said in a statement to Indian stock exchanges.
“The United States Department of Justice has also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such criminal indictment,” it added. “In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings.”
Following the US charge, global ratings agency Moody’s said this would negatively impact the group’s outlook. “The indictment of Adani Group’s chairman and other senior officials on bribery charges is credit negative for the group’s companies,” Moody’s Ratings said in a statement.
“Our main focus when assessing Adani Group is on the ability of the group’s companies to access capital to meet their liquidity requirements and on its governance practices,” it further said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)