Gautam Adani indicted in US for alleged solar-related bribery scheme

From pv magazine India

US prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani and other executives with a bribery scheme allegedly involving over $250 million in payments to Indian officials to secure solar energy supply contracts.

The contracts were expected to yield $2 billion in profits over two decades. The indictment accuses Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain of securities and wire fraud, alleging they secured $3 billion of US and international financing through false statements.

The charges claim the defendants raised capital via two dollar-denominated syndicate loans exceeding $2 billion and two Rule 144A bond offerings totaling more than $1 billion. These bonds, underwritten by international financial institutions, were marketed to US investors.

The indictment also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable energy company with New York Stock Exchange-listed securities, alongside Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor. They are charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery for one of the world’s largest solar projects.

Prosecutors allege that Cabanes, Agarwal, Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal obstructed investigations by agreeing to delete emails, messages, and other materials tied to the bribery scheme.