GUWAHATI: Gautam Adani-led Group stocks crashed up to 20 per cent during the trading session on Thursday, November 21 after US prosecutors indicted billionaire Gautam Adani and seven other senior business executives in connection with an alleged $250 million bribery scheme that they said was concealed from US investors.
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According to the indictment, the accused organised a scheme to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, misleading investors and banks to raise billions of dollars and obstructing justice in the process.
The charges were revealed by Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Lisa H. Miller, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vineet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” said Peace.
The allegations are linked to one of the world’s largest solar energy projects and revolve around violations of US laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA). The FCPA prohibits individuals and entities from corruptly offering or paying money or anything of value to foreign officials to gain or retain business.
Congress Reiterates Demand For JPC Probe
Meanwhile, the Congress said that the US indictment had vindicated the party’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the various investigation into the various “Modani scams.”
Taking to X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “The indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) of the US vindicates the demand that the Indian National Congress has been making since Jan 2023 for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various Modani scams. The INC had asked a hundred questions in its Hum Adani ke Hain (HAHK) series bringing out the various dimensions of these scams and of the intimate nexus that has existed between the PM and his favourite businessman. These questions have remained unanswered. The SEC's actions also cast poor light on the manner in which its Indian counterpart, namely SEBI, has gone about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its abject failure to hold the Group to account for the source of its investments, shell companies, etc. The INC reiterates its demand for a JPC into the transactions of the Adani Group, which is leading to growing monopolisation in key sectors of the Indian economy, fueling inflation, and posing huge foreign policy challenges as well, especially in our neighbourhood.”