Significant setback for Gautam Adani after US court, SEC charge him, other group executives of bribery

Adani Group stocks will be in focus on Thursday, November 21, after a US District Court charged Gautam Adani, the group founder with participating in an alleged bribe plot. Here is what the US District Court Eastern District of New York said in its order:

In or about and between 2020 and 2024, Senior executives of an Indian renewable-energy company, which was a portfolio company of an Indian conglomerate, an issuer company that operated in the renewable-energy sector whose securities were traded on the US exchange and that issuer's largest shareholder, a Canadian institutional investor, participated in a scheme to bribe Indian government officials to ensure execution of lucrative solar energy supply contracts with Indian Government entities.

The order names the following people:

- Gautam Adani, Chairman Adani Group
- Sagar R. Adani, Executive Director, Adani Green Energy

- Vneet S Jaain, MD & CEO, Adani Green Energy
- Ranjit Gupta, Former CEO Azure Power
- Cyril Cabanes, Former Azure Board member
- Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra, Rupesh Agarwal

The order further states:

During the same period, senior executives of the Indian renewable energy company conspired to misrepresent the company's anti-bribery practices to US-based investors and international financial institutions and concealed from those same investors and institutions their bribery of Indian government officials to obtain billions of dollars in financing for green energy projects, including the corrupt solar energy supply contracts.

In addition, senior executives of the issuer company and its Canadian institutional investor conspired to obstruct the United States government's investigations into the bribery scheme.

Bloomberg has reported that units of the Adani Group have called off a $600 million dollar bond sale on Thursday after the report from the US District Court and the Securities Exchange Commission.