According to Jugeshinder Singh, the chief financial officer of the conglomerate, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with bribery in the United States in connection with a single contract involving Adani Green Energy, which makes up around 10% of the company’s operations. He stated that no other Adani Group companies have been connected.
Adani, one of the richest people in the world, and seven other people were charged by US authorities on Wednesday, November 20, in relation to a $265 million plan to bribe Indian officials for contracts related to electricity supplies. Adani has called the accusations “baseless” and rejected them.
Singh defended the group’s stance on Saturday, stating that none of Adani’s eleven publicly traded firms were implicated in the investigation or charged with any misconduct. He clarified on X, the website that was formerly known as Twitter, that the accusations in the US indictment were to a single contract of Adani Green, which accounts for about 10% of its total revenue.
The charges present a serious obstacle for the $143 billion Adani Group, which came under fire last year after Hindenburg Research made allegations about its alleged abuse of offshore tax havens, which the company has refuted.
The conglomerate has already suffered as a result of the indictment. Its companies’ stock has plummeted, several foreign banks are allegedly thinking of halting fresh credit arrangements for the group, and Kenya has canceled two agreements with Adani totaling more than $2.5 billion.
Adani Green has also been charged by US prosecutors with deceiving investors about its adherence to anti-bribery regulations. In a $750 million bond issue, the company obtained $175 million from US financial institutions by making false promises about its corporate governance and transparency, according to the indictment.
Singh said that although the business had been informed of recent events, it was only two days ago that it was made aware of the accusations’ specifics. “We informed investors that we knew something was going on during the bond offering.”
Sagar Adani, a director at Adani Green and a member of the Adani family, is also accused in the indictment of handling bribe data totaling hundreds of millions of dollars through his cell phone.
Singh said that as the case is presently being considered by the courts, the group would provide more information as soon as it has legal approval.