Adani bribery probe: US market regulator seeks India's help

THE US Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Indian authorities for help in its investigation of Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew over alleged securities fraud and a $265-million bribery scheme, a court filing showed on Tuesday (18).

The regulator told a New York district court it was making efforts to serve its complaint on the founder and his nephew, Sagar Adani, and was seeking help from India's law ministry to do so.

Neither individual is in US custody, and both are now in India.

"The SEC has requested assistance ... under the Hague service convention," it said in the court filing.

Adani Group and India's law ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Last week, prime minister Narendra Modi said he did not discuss the Adani case with US president Donald Trump during his visit to Washington, describing it to reporters as an individual issue never discussed by leaders.

India's opposition Congress party has called for Adani's arrest and accused Modi of shielding him or favouring him in deals in the past. Modi's party and Adani have denied the charges.

Last year, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment accusing Adani of bribing Indian officials to convince them to buy electricity produced by Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary of his Adani Group.

He then misled US investors by providing reassuring information about the company's anti-graft practices, it added.

Adani Group has called the accusations "baseless" and vowed to seek "all possible legal recourse".

In January, Adani Green said it had appointed independent law firms to review the US indictment.

Will government oblige: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday (19) said Modi has already declared the Adani issue to be a personal matter and asked whether he would oblige the US SEC request in the ongoing probe against the business group.

The opposition party's assertion came after the SEC told a federal judge in New York that its efforts to serve its complaint on Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani in the alleged bribery scheme are “ongoing”. This included a request for assistance to the Indian authorities.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the SEC has just informed a New York district court that it has sought the assistance of the Modi government to serve complaints on the violations of US laws by Gautam Adani and some of his colleagues.

"The PM has already declared the Modani issue to be a personal matter. Will he oblige the SEC?" Ramesh said on X.

To a question on whether the issue relating to Adani figured in the talks, Modi said at a joint media briefing with Donald Trump in Washington last week: "India is a democracy and our culture is 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. We consider the whole world as one family. I believe every Indian is mine."

"Two prominent leaders of two countries never discuss such individual issues," he said. (Agencies)