The US Justice Department claimed in a New York court that veteran businessman Gautam Adani and other associates conspired to defraud investors for their benefit. Also, the accused conspired to bribe Indian government officials to obtain contracts worth trillions of rupees. However, the indictment clearly states that these are allegations and the accused will be considered innocent until proven guilty. According to court records, some of the people involved in the conspiracy used to call Gautam Adani privately by the code name Numero Uno i.e. Number One and The Big Man.
Conspiracy to obtain and finance contracts
US prosecutors allege that between 2020 and 2024, Adani Company and its subsidiaries raised more than $200 million in bank loans from international financial institutions and US-based asset management companies. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said Adani and his associates conspired to obtain and finance large-scale state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of American investors. US Attorney Brian Peace said the accused hatched an elaborate conspiracy to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets.
Charges of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and obstruction of justice
In the indictment, prosecutors accused Gautam Adani and two officials of Adani Green Energy Ltd., including the Executive Director, his nephew Sagar Adani, and CEO Vineet S Jain, of conspiring to defraud investors. The three are accused of carrying out this conspiracy with the help of five other defendants. They are accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and obstruction of justice.
Payment of Rs 1,750 crore to Andhra officials
According to court records, the Adani Group won a bid in 2021 to supply 8,000 megawatts (8 gigawatts) of electricity produced using indigenously manufactured solar cells and modular plants. However, the state governments have not agreed to buy electricity at the price quoted by the company. Adani is accused of meeting the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (YSR Jagan Reddy) in 2021. After this, the state government agreed to buy 7,000 MW of electricity. Andhra officials were paid Rs 25 lakh per MW. The state purchased 7,000 MW of electricity and paid Rs 1,750 crore ($200 million) to the officials. Similarly, Odisha bought 500 MW of electricity.
Nephew Sagar used a cell phone for a bribe.
According to the indictment, the accused made documentation to implement their scheme. Sagar used his cell phone to monitor the bribes and promises made to government officials. Vineet Jain used his phone to take a picture of a document detailing various bribe amounts. It is alleged that accused Rupesh Agarwal also prepared an analysis of the bribe amount using PowerPoint and Excel, which gave information about the payment of bribes and various options to hide the payment.
The entire incident is recorded in the US court.
December 2019-July 2020
India's central government-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) contracted to buy 8 gigawatts (GW) of solar power from Adani Green Energy and 4 GW from Azure Power Global. Under the agreement, SECI was to find state power distribution companies, which would buy 12 GW of solar power.
2020
The high and fixed prices of electricity made it difficult for SECI to find a buyer, putting the entire project in danger. To save the project, Gautam Adani, along with Sagar and other officials, hatched a scheme to offer, authorize, pay, and promise to bribe government officials to find a buyer for SECI.
August to November 2021
Gautam Adani met an unnamed Indian official several times in Andhra Pradesh. The official was offered Rs 1,750 crore and power distribution companies of Andhra Pradesh state agreed to buy 7 GW of solar power. Adani and others also offered Rs 2.79 billion to officials of other states to enter into agreements to buy solar power from SECI. Gautam's nephew Sagar Adani kept details of bribes paid to officials of various states on his mobile.
Adani Green offered several options for Azure
July 2021 to February 2022
Power companies from the states of Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh entered into agreements to buy power from SECI, which it would buy from Azure Power and Adani Green Energy.
April 2022
Gautam was to meet Azure Power CEO Ranjit Gupta and others to discuss how Azure could pay Adani Green its share of bribes of around $83 million. However, Azure asked Gupta and another executive to resign. Gautam, Jain, and Sagar met with Azure advisor Rupesh Agarwal and another executive and Adani presented several options to Azure before Adani Green.
June 2022
Some Azure Power executives and Adani finalized the mechanism to facilitate payments by returning power purchase agreements for 2.3 GW from SECI, which would then be awarded to Adani Green.
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