- Monday, April 29, 2024
The prosecutors were reportedly probing whether an Adani entity or associated individuals, including chairman Gautam Adani, were involved in paying Indian officials to secure favourable treatment for an energy project.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN conglomerate Adani Group has reacted after a report has claimed that the United States was probing allegations of bribery against the company with a focus on its founder-chairman Gautam Adani, saying it was ‘not aware of any investigations against the company and its chairman’.
On Friday (15), Bloomberg News reported that the US has expanded its inquiry into India’s Adani Group to scrutinize the actions of Gautam Adani and assess whether the company might have been involved in bribery.
According to sources familiar with the matter and whom the report cited, prosecutors are investigating whether an Adani entity or individuals associated with the company, including the chairman, were involved in making payments to officials in India to secure favourable treatment for an energy project.
Read: India’s Adani to invest over £286m in ammunition, missile production
The probe, overseen by the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York and the justice department’s fraud unit in Washington, is also examining Indian renewable energy firm Azure Power Global, as per the report.
“We are not aware of any investigation against our chairman,” Adani Group was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.
Read: Gautam Adani on India top court verdict in Hindenburg case: ‘Truth has prevailed’
Last year, Adani Group’s stocks and bonds witnessed a massive selloff after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged in a report about improper governance practices, stock manipulation and the use of tax havens by the India group, which denied the charges.
The accusation saw a combined market cap erosion of a whopping $150 billion and even forced the group to call off the Rs 20,000 crore FPO for Adani Enterprises, its flagship firm.
The matter also spilled into the political space and the Supreme Court of India set up an independent panel to look into the matter, besides a parallel probe by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s market regulator.
None of Hindenburg’s accusations against Adani have been proven so far. In January, the group received a massive relief when a bench of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said there was no ground to transfer the probe against the group to a special investigation team, a ruling which the group’s legal representatives considered nothing less than an exoneration.
The SEBI investigated 22 out of 24 cases linked to the allegations brought by Hindenburg against the Adani Group. The apex court also gave the regulator three months to complete the probe in the remaining two cases.
Share prices of several firms under the conglomerate surged consequently.
