A New York court has ordered simultaneous hearing of 3 cases alleging bribery worth billions of rupees against industrialist Gautam Adani and others. The court ordered that these cases will be heard together in a joint trial. The cases that will be heard together include US vs. Adani et al. (criminal case against Adani), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vs. Adani et al. (civil case against Adani) and SEC vs. Cabanes (civil case against other accused). Case) are included. The court gave this decision when it found that these cases are related to similar allegations and transactions.
Gautam Adani in bribery case
Earlier on November 21, 2024, the United States Attorney’s Office had said that Adani had given or planned to give a bribe of $ 265 million (then about Rs 2200 crore) to Indian officials to get a contract related to solar energy in India. Were making.
This entire matter is related to Adani Group company Adani Green Energy Limited and another firm. This case was registered in the Federal Court of New York on 24 October 2024. In its hearing on Wednesday i.e. November 20, Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, Vineet S Jain, Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabenis, Saurabh Aggarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Aggarwal have been made accused.
Reuters report said that arrest warrants have also been issued against Gautam Adani and Sagar. Sagar is an officer of Adani Green Energy Limited.
Adani Group’s statement
Adani Group has termed all the allegations as baseless. Issuing a statement on November 21, the group had said – ‘The allegations made by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against the directors of Adani Green Energy Limited are baseless. We refute them.
The whole matter
According to the filing of the US Justice Department, Solar Energy Corporation of India i.e. SECI had taken out a contract for the supply of 12 GW of energy in the country. SECI is a renewable energy company of the Government of India, whose objective is to increase the use of solar energy in the country.
Between December 2019 and July 2020, Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) and a foreign firm won the contract. He was issued Letter of Award (LOA).
A problem arose here. SECI was not getting customers for the electricity purchased from AGEL and foreign firms. In such a situation, he is not able to buy electricity from AGEN and foreign firms. This would have caused losses to Adani’s company and the foreign firm.
According to the charge sheet, Gautam Adani along with his nephew Sagar Adani, Vineet Jain and 7 people conspired to bribe the officials. So that state governments enter into power sale agreements with SECI and their solar power agreements find buyers.
According to the charge sheet, ‘Gautam Adani met a senior official of Andhra Pradesh several times between 7 August 2021 and 20 November 2021. So that a solar power agreement is signed between Andhra Pradesh Electricity Distribution Company (APEPDCL) and SECI.
After this an agreement was signed between APEPDCL and SECI. AGEL and the foreign firm got the contract. After this, the State Electricity Distribution Board of Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir signed contracts for purchase of power.
Sagar Adani manages the energy business
Gautam Adani’s nephew, Sagar holds a degree in Economics from Brown University US. Sagar joined Adani Group in 2015. Sagar manages the group’s energy business and finance. He focuses on renewable energy business and plans to make the company the world’s largest renewable energy producer by 2030.
Adani Green Energy Limited has a clean energy portfolio of more than 20 GW, which includes one of the world’s largest solar power plants in the country’s southern state of Tamil Nadu. Adani Group has set a target of becoming the country’s largest company in this sector by 2030.
