They claimed Gautam Adani met an Indian official to “advance” the scheme.
The US attorney’s office in Brooklyn also charged three former employees of large Canadian pension fund CDPQ in connection with the alleged scheme, saying they obstructed an investigation into the bribes by deleting emails and agreeing to provide false information to the US government.
CDPQ, which invests in infrastructure projects, is a shareholder in Adani companies.
The indictments threaten to reignite a reputational crisis for Adani Group, which has been trying to move past claims of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation made last year by US short seller Hindenburg Research. Adani has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Shares across Adani’s 10 listed companies dropped on Thursday.
The conglomerate’s flagship Adani Enterprises closed down 22%, its ports business fell 14% and Adani Green Energy declined 19%.
US deputy assistant attorney-general Lisa Miller said in a statement: “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250m in bribes to Indian government officials.
“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 US investors.”
Prosecutors further alleged the defendants “extensively documented their corrupt efforts” on mobile phones, on PowerPoint presentations and in Excel spreadsheets “that summarised various options for paying and concealing bribe payments”.
In a parallel civil lawsuit, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said the alleged bribes were paid in order to “secure [the Indian government’s] commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani Green and Azure Power”, two renewable energy companies in India.
Adani Green, which is building one of the largest solar plants in the world at Khavda in India’s western state of Gujarat, raised more than US$175m from American investors as part of a US$750m corporate bond while the scheme was ongoing, US regulators said.
Gautam and Sagar Adani allegedly “induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance programme, but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes”, said Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director at the SEC’s enforcement division.
According to the regulator’s complaint, Sagar Adani allegedly told Azure executives and others about “incentives” or bribes he had been proposing to “motivate” state officials to agree contracts with the Indian government’s arm responsible for implementing renewable energy programmes.
Adani Group said in a statement the allegations by the US Department of Justice and SEC against directors of Adani Green were “baseless and denied ... [and that] all possible legal recourse will be sought”.
Adani Green said it would suspend a planned US$600m bond issue.
CDPQ said: “CDPQ is aware of charges filed in the US against certain former employees. Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is co-operating with US authorities. In light of the pending cases, we have no further comment at this time.”
Azure said former directors and officers of the company referenced in the charges by US authorities had been “separated” from it for more than a year.
“We have been co-operating with those agencies in relation to those and other matters and we will continue to do so,” it said.
Gautam Adani has over the past two decades built his conglomerate into one of India’s most formidable industrial groups, diversifying from its core ports and trading business into mining, airports, coal and renewable power.
It has built or bid for power, port and other infrastructure projects in countries that include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Israel, where it operates the port of Haifa.
In a post on X congratulating Donald Trump on his US election victory this month, Adani said his group was “committed to leveraging its global expertise” and would invest US$10b in American energy security and infrastructure projects as part of the partnership between India and the US, with the aim of creating up to 15,000 jobs.
Adani’s rise in business has coincided with India’s drive to harness private-sector expertise and capital to develop its infrastructure, which has accelerated during Modi’s decade in power.
The Indian National Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi, who became India’s opposition leader after this year’s general election, called for an investigation after the Hindenburg allegations and questioned Adani’s record of winning government tenders, as well as his close ties with ruling politicians including Modi, who is also from Gujarat.
On Thursday the party said the US indictment “vindicates” its demands for a parliamentary probe.
India’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Written by: Joe Miller in New York, Stefania Palma in Washington and John Reed and Chris Kay in Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong
© Financial Times
