US says Adani made false statements to lenders about news report

By Tom Schoenberg and Ava Benny-Morrison

Nestled among the corruption allegations leveled against Gautam Adani by the US are his conglomerate’s reactions to a news story this year reporting that he was being investigated by the Justice Department for bribery.

The article referenced in the indictment is a March 15 Bloomberg News report that US prosecutors were digging into whether an Adani entity — or people linked to the company, including its billionaire chairman — were involved in paying officials in India for favorable treatment on an energy project. In that article, Adani Group said it wasn’t “aware of any investigation against our chairman” and that it was fully compliant with anti-bribery laws in India and elsewhere.

Prosecutors contend the denial was a false statement meant to further the alleged fraud scheme, given that Adani’s nephew, Sagar Adani, received a grand jury subpoena and search warrant a year earlier. Sagar is executive director of Adani Green Energy Ltd., India’s largest renewables developer.

The indictment also details further denials made by company officials and outside lawyers to investors and lenders over several weeks, including an email from Adani’s head of corporate finance referring to the article as “baseless,” “malicious” and “defamatory.”

“These false statements concealed both the United States government’s investigation and the bribery scheme from investors and financial institutions,” prosecutors said in the indictment, “all to ensure the conglomerate’s and the Indian energy company’s continued access to capital in the United States and elsewhere.”

A representative for Adani Group didn’t immediately reply to a message seeking comment. In response to the indictment, a spokesperson for the conglomerate denied the allegations and called them baseless. Adani Group is “a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws,” the spokesperson said in a statement.