New York [US], November 21 (ANI): A five-count criminal indictment has been unsealed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging prominent Indian executives including Chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani by linking them to an alleged bribery and fraud scheme, Reuters reported citing US prosecutors.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, “A five-count criminal indictment was unsealed in federal court charging Gautam Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain, with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.”
The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the U.S. Issuer), and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.
Breon Peace further alleged that the people named in the indictment undermined the integrity of international financial markets and defrauded U.S. and global investors.
“The business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy.
The indictment also accuses the executive of obstructing investigations by the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The US Attorney’s office says that the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI New York‘s Corporate, Securities and Commodities Fraud and International Corruption Units.
The government’s case is being handled by the Business and Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
There has been no response so far from the office of Gautam Adani or others named in the indictment.
The White House has said it is aware of the allegations against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, who was indicted in New York over his role in an alleged multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme.
Addressing reporters during her daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed confidence that Indian and the US could navigate the issue without compromising their robust partnership.
“So, Obviously, we’re aware of these allegations, and I would have to refer you to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and DOJ (Department of Justice) about the specifics of those – of those allegations against the Adani Group,” she said.
Jean-Pierre said that the relationship between the US and India remains solid. “What I will say is on the US and India relationship, we believe that it stands on an extremely strong foundation anchored in ties between our people and cooperation across a full range of global issues,” she said.
She further expressed confidence in the ability of the two nations to navigate the situation. “What we believe and we’re confident about is that we’ll continue to navigate this issue as we have with other issues that may have come up. And so the specifics of this, this is something that the SEC and DOJ can speak to directly, but again, we believe that…this relationship between India and the US has been built on a strong foundation,” the White House spokesperson added.(ANI)
