What is FBI’s evidence against Gautam Adani? Why has he been named?

Gautam Adani, his nephew and six other executives of various Adani companies have been charged with the following offences:

1. Bribing or offering to bribe Indian government officials to ensure the execution of lucrative solar energy supply contracts with ‘Indian government entities’ (state power distribution companies)

2. Conspiring to misrepresent Adani Group companies' anti-bribery practices (na khaya hoon, na khaoonga) to US-based investors and international financial institutions

3. Concealing from investors, regulators and investigators the bribery of Indian government officials

4. Obstructing the US government’s investigation into the bribery and destroying documents and digital communication

Government-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was unsuccessful in finding buyers for the power at the prices contracted with Adani and Azure. Hence Adani, along with others, allegedly met with various government officials several times in 2021 and 2022 and offered them bribes to sign power sale agreements with SECI, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Besides the criminal charges filed in a New York court, in a separate civil lawsuit, the US Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and an Azure Power executive with "violating the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws".

Gautam and Sagar Adani induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds while misrepresenting to them that their company had a robust anti-bribery compliance programme, and that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes, the SEC said in its statement.

Adani Green Energy which won a tender to supply eight gigawatts of solar power to SECI, officials of Azure Power which bagged a tender to supply 4 GW of solar power, and former executives of Canadian public pension fund manager CDPQ, an investor in Azure Power, were also named in the case.

The FBI claims to have served a notice to Sagar Adani in March 2023 and a search warrant, following which it had taken away digital devices and other incriminating evidence. The agency claims that Gautam Adani was immediately informed by his nephew of the FBI raid and that he got every page of the search warrant photographed and sent to him. In short, he knew about the ongoing investigation as early as March 2023. However, he concealed the fact from SEBI (Securities & Exchange Board of India) and his investors in India and abroad.

The FBI alleged that:

a) Gautam Adani personally met an Andhra Pradesh government official thrice between August and November 2021. The official, not named in the indictment and not listed as a defendant, was allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 1,750 crore.

b) On 25 April 2022, Gautam Adani was scheduled to meet company executives in New Delhi, but on the same day, the US-based issuer asked two of its executives based in India-Mauritius to resign. Following the development, Gautam Adani sought a meeting with the new leadership team of the US-based issuer.

c) The meeting was allegedly held in Ahmedabad on 29 April, in which Gautam Adani is alleged to have given details of the steps personally taken by him to bribe officials. He is said to have shared plans to conceal details from regulators and suggested how the US-based issuer could transfer the tender for supply of 4 GW to Adani Green Energy, pay the Indian conglomerate a fee to take over the liability, and how to transfer the amount.

d) One of the executives, Rupesh Agarwal, is said to have made a PowerPoint presentation of various options with the help of Excel sheets.

In March 2024, SECI formally wrote to the US issuer terminating the agreement.