Gautam Adani Bribery Case: Arrest Warrant Unsealed Amid Fraud Allegations.
An arrest warrant against industrialist Gautam Adani was unsealed in a New York court last month following bribery and fraud charges.
The move, authorized by Judge Robert M. Levy on October 31, 2024, aims to share the documents with foreign law enforcement agencies.
The indictment alleges that Adani, along with his nephew and six others, paid $265 million (approximately ₹2,029 crore) in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar power contracts.
The US Justice Department contends that the bribes, allegedly paid between 2020 and 2024, were concealed from American investors and banks who funded the Adani Group’s solar energy projects. These ventures, projected to yield over $2 billion in profits across two decades, have now come under scrutiny.
The case centers around contracts obtained by Adani Green Energy and Azure Power to supply 12 gigawatts of solar-generated electricity to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
Facing challenges as SECI struggled to find buyers due to high power costs, the companies allegedly resorted to bribing officials in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir to secure state-level deals.
While the charges involve Indian state officials, US prosecutors argue that American investors’ interests justify their jurisdiction under US law. The Adani Group has strongly denied the allegations, dismissing them as “baseless” and promising to address the matter legally.
The unsealed warrant, requested by the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, raises questions about potential international legal action. However, legal experts highlight limitations, noting that such warrants rarely result in arrests in other jurisdictions.
Senior advocate Vijay Aggarwal, speaking on the matter, likened expectations of execution in India to “a James Bond movie scenario,” emphasizing the complexities of cross-border legal enforcement.
This development adds another layer to the scrutiny surrounding one of India’s largest conglomerates, as the fallout from the allegations continues to unfold.
