The US federal justice system accused Indian tycoon Gautam Adani on Wednesday, November 20 in New York of corruption to obtain solar energy contracts to the detriment of investors in the United States.
According to a press release from Brooklyn prosecutor Breon Peace, between 2020 and 2024, the billionaire participated with seven co-defendants in a bribe payment system, worth more than $250 million (approximately €237 million). , to Indian officials to “obtain contracts worth billions of dollars” in the field of solar energy.
According to prosecutor Gautam Adani, they would also have hidden one of his nephews at the head of their group, Sagar Adani, and a third director. “this system of corruption while seeking to raise funds from American and international investors”.
According to the prosecution, the suspects allegedly “his acts of corruption are widely documented”particularly Sagar Adani with his cell phone. Gautam Adani would have played a direct role. He “He met in person with an Indian government official to implement this corruption scheme and the defendants met in person to discuss aspects of its implementation.”the prosecution accuses.
Among the eight defendants in this sprawling matter are former employees of a Canadian investment fund, including a French-Australian citizen residing in Singapore, according to the indictment.
Gautam Adani, close to Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has not been arrested, the Brooklyn federal prosecutor’s office told Agence France-Presse.
Accused of accounting fraud for several decades in 2023
The man who today is one of the richest men in the world is the founder and eponymous boss of the conglomerate Adani Group, which covers everything from coal mines to ports and airports, including the media. In 2023, his group was accused of “blatant manipulation” of their own actions and also “accounting fraud for several decades” by the American investment company Hindenburg Research.
Gautam Adani rejected the allegations, but his group saw its share value drop by more than $150 billion following the report, and the businessman saw his personal wealth plummet by around $80 billion. Since then, the tycoon and his company have offset much of those losses.
Opposition parties and other critics have long accused him of taking advantage of his relationship with Narendra Modi to unfairly win business and avoid proper oversight of his company.
A renewable energy park five times larger than Paris
In recent years, he launched a green energy company with ambitious goals, investing in the Indian government’s strategic priorities. In the Indian state of Gujarat, the group notably launched the project for the largest renewable energy park in the world, with an area five times larger than that of Paris.
The memorable world
Test your general knowledge with the writing of “Le Monde”
Test your general knowledge with the writing of “Le Monde”
Discover
Born in Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat, in India, into a middle-class family, Gautam Adani, now 62, abandoned his studies to work briefly in the diamond industry before launching, in 1988, its export business.
In 1995, the businessman, who was then seeking to diversify his activities, obtained the contract to build and operate the Mundra commercial port, which has since become the largest in India. At the same time, it was engaged in thermal power generation and coal mining at home and abroad.
