Indian magnate Gautam Adani charged in US over massive bribery scheme
Billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani has been charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments from investors, US prosecutors said on Wednesday.
With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, the chairman of Adani Group has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash.
The close acolyte of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow Gujarat native, is alleged to have agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
The deals were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax, over roughly 20 years.
None of the multiple defendants in the case, including Adani, are in custody, the prosecutor's office told AFP.
Prosecutors say one of Adani's alleged accomplices meticulously tracked bribe payments, using his phone to log the bungs offered to officials.
"This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller.
'Fear of reprisal'
"Gautam Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses... while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government's investigation," said the FBI's James Dennehy.
A self-described introvert, Adani keeps a low profile and rarely speaks to the media, often sending lieutenants to front corporate events.
