LIVE | Adani's indictment in US: Rahul demands arrest, JPC probe
Adani, 7 other execs charged with bribing Indian officials to secure lucrative contracts, defrauding US investors by making false statements
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged billionaire Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group, with allegedly running a $250 million bribery scheme and defrauding American investors.
Accusing Adani and seven other executives of bribing Indian officials to land lucrative contracts, the federal prosecutors have alleged that on several occasions the business tycoon himself met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution.
Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar Adani, 30, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd, and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd were charged on Wednesday (November 20) with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions through false and misleading statements.
Also read: Hindenburg claims $310 mn frozen in Swiss bank a/c, Adani Group rejects allegations
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Live Updates
- 21 Nov 2024 12:57 PM IST
Investigations should cover all states, irrespective of party in power: Rahul
- 21 Nov 2024 12:46 PM IST
Investigations should cover all states, irrespective of party in power: Rahul
- 21 Nov 2024 12:46 PM IST
I can guarantee that Adani won't be arrested or investigated in India because govt protecting him: Rahul
- 21 Nov 2024 12:45 PM IST
As Leader of Opposition, I will raise this issue in Lok Sabha; our demand for JPC stands: Rahul
- 21 Nov 2024 12:45 PM IST
Adani should be arrested immediately and his "protector" Madhabi Puri Buch should be probed: Rahul
- 21 Nov 2024 12:45 PM IST
It's now pretty clear and established in US that Gautam Adani broke Indian and American laws: Rahul Gandhi on charges against Adani.
- 21 Nov 2024 12:24 PM IST
Adani Green scraps $600 million bond sale
Adani Green Energy Ltd, the renewable energy arm of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, on Thursday (November 21) scrapped a USD 600 million bond issue after its promoter was charged in an alleged bribery case in the US.
Hours before the US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani and associates with participating in a scheme to pay over USD 250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts, the firm sold a 20-year green bond in the US-investment-grade market.
The issue was over-subscribed three times. But following the allegations, the issue was scrapped.
"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.
"The United States Department of Justice has also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such criminal indictment. In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings," Adani Green Energy said in a stock exchange filing.
- 21 Nov 2024 11:48 AM IST
BJP slams Congress, questions timing of development
The BJP has targeted the Congress over its attack on the central government after US prosecutors charged industrialist Gautam Adani with bribery and fraud, saying all the states mentioned in the indictment were at that time ruled by opposition parties.
BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya also questioned the timing of the development, as it came just before the start of Parliament session and Donald Trump's impending presidency.
This raises several questions, he said. "That the Congress is willing to be a prop in the hands of George Soros and his cabal speaks volumes," Malviya said on X in reply to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's claim that the indictment vindicates the Congress's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various "Modani scams".
Citing from the US federal prosecutors's indictment, Malviya said the states where government officials were paid bribes allegedly by the Adani Group were Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh between July 2021 and February 2022.
He told Ramesh, "All the states mentioned here were Opposition-ruled during that time. So, before you pontificate, answer on the bribes the Congress and its allies accepted," he said.
While Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were then ruled by the BJD and the YSR Congress, two regional parties unaffiliated to either the ruling or the opposition alliance at that time, the Congress ally DMK was and remains in power in Tamil Nadu.The Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh.
- 21 Nov 2024 11:23 AM IST
#WATCH | Delhi: On US prosecutors charging Gautam Adani and others in alleged Solar Energy contract bribery case, AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, "...Adani Group has brought disrepute to India...This is a very serious matter. The PM of India should come forward and answer this...All… pic.twitter.com/rYQcuZ7uak
— ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2024 - 21 Nov 2024 10:27 AM IST
Congress calls for 'credible' SEBI chief to complete probe in 'Adani Mega Scam'
The Congress on Thursday said it "vindicates" its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various "scams" involving his conglomerate. The opposition party also called for "a new and credible" SEBI head to be appointed to complete the securities law investigations into the "Adani Mega Scam".
Adani has been charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.
US prosecutors charged Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over USD 250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than USD 2 billion in profit.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the US Securities and Exchange Commission's actions also cast poor light on the manner in which its Indian counterpart, namely SEBI, has gone about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its abject failure to hold the Group to account for the source of its investments, shell companies, etc.
"The indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) of the US vindicates the demand that the Indian National Congress has been making since Jan 2023 for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various Modani scams," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"The INC had asked a hundred questions in its Hum Adani ke Hain (HAHK) series bringing out the various dimensions of these scams and of the intimate nexus that has existed between the PM and his favourite businessman. These questions have remained unanswered," he said.
