Indian billionaire Gautam Adani charged in US for alleged bribery, fraud

US prosecutors have accused Gautam Adani and others of an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars as they sought to raise funds from US investors.

Gautam Adani, the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in New York over an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, United States prosecutors have said.

The authorities on Wednesday charged Adani and two other executives at Adani Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, with agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250m in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield $2bn in profits.

Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised more than $3bn in loans and bonds during this period based on false and misleading statements.

Five other people were hit with related criminal conspiracy charges, including two executives of another renewable energy company, and three employees of a Canadian institutional investor.

The Adani Group denied the charges on Thursday.

“The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied,” the conglomerate said in a statement, adding that “all possible legal recourse will be sought.”