Adani hit with Ksh34.3 billion bribery charge in the US

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and seven other executives with allegedly promising to pay $265 million (Ksh34.3 billion) in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts.

This raises further questions about the Adani Group that is owned by the tycoon, following allegations of fraud and environmental pollution against the company in Switzerland and Australia respectively.

Adani has already been awarded a Ksh95.68 billion contract by Kenya to build high-voltage power transmission lines and is targeting to take over the country’s main airport, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and run it for a period of 30 years.

The US DoJ says that Adani, 62, personally met with an Indian government official to “advance” the scheme, which took place between 2020 to 2024. The defendants frequently met and allegedly discussed the bribery scheme, including evidence on several phones.

In furtherance of the bribery scheme, the co-conspirators, through Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vneet Jaain and other, had offered and promised to Indian government officials approximately 2,029 crore rupees (approximately $265 million) in bribes in exchange for Indian government officials causing the state electricity distribution companies

doj

Adani has been indicted alongside his nephew Sagar Adani, who was the Executive Director of the firm at the center of the bribery allegations, the Indian Energy Company. The company’s then CEO Vneet Jaain has also been indicted, same as Ranjit Gupta, who served as the CEO of an Adani subsidiary that received money from investors in the US.

Other individuals charged alongside the billionaire are Cyril Cabanes, Deepak Malhotra, Rupesh Agarwal and Saurabh Agarwal.

“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said in the statement.

Adani’s entry in Kenya has been faced with strong opposition from the public, who view the company with suspicion due to the secrecy and hasty manner in which its deals have been approved by the government.

President William Ruto and senior government officials have strongly defended Adani, claiming that the company has the capacity to do the projects that it is being awarded under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework.

Dozens of cases have been filed in Kenya to oppose Adani’s power transmission lines deal as well as the proposed takeover of JKIA in a deal that could see Kenya cede control of its largest and most strategic airport to the Indian for three decades.

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