Adani Group Responds To Bribery Charges, Cancels $600 Million Bond Offering

Charges filed in a US court accused Gautam Adani and other executives, including Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain, of masterminding a $250 million bribery scheme to secure solar energy contracts

Adani Green said on Thursday that they cancelled its $600 million bond offering following accusations by US prosecutors that Gautam Adani and other executives orchestrated a $250 million bribery scheme.

Responding to the accusations, Adani Green released a statement on Thursday, which states, "The United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against our Board members, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani.”

“The United States Department of Justice have also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such criminal indictment. In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD-denominated bond offerings,” it added.

Charges filed in a Brooklyn court accused Gautam Adani and other executives, including Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain, of masterminding a $250 million (Rs 2,100 crore) bribery scheme to secure solar energy contracts in India. The indictment claims the defendants made false statements to US investors and violated federal laws.

The US prosecutors alleged that the Adani Group concealed this information from the US banks and investors who provided billions in funding for the solar energy project. The group had aimed to generate $2 billion in profits by securing the energy contracts.

The alleged bribery payments occurred during the same period as the release of the report from US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research in 2023. The report accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, leading to a $150 billion loss in the group's market value.

Meanwhile, Adani Group stocks fell sharply on Thursday after this news became public. Shares of key companies, including Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Energy Solutions, dropped by 10-20 per cent in early trading.