'Baseless': Adani Group denies US charges of bribery and fraud against Gautam Adani

In a first reaction the Adani Group spokesperson issued a statement which reads, "The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied.

"As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, "the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty." All possible legal recourse will be sought."

"The Adani Group has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations.

"We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws," the statement reads.

Adani, who is one of the richest people in the world, has been charged with a multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme.

The billionaire and other executives of the conglomerate including his nephew Sagar Adani have been charged with agreeing to pay $265 million to Indian officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars for his renewable energy company.

"As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and... lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,"  US Attorney Breon Peace said as quoted by BBC News.

"My office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets," he added.

It has also been alleged that on several occasions, Adani, who is accused of being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Opposition, met Indian officials personally to hold discussions on the alleged bribery scheme.

On November 13, Adani marked his announcement of his investment of $10 billion in US energy security and infrastructure projects along with his congratulatory message to US President-elect Donald Trump.

Adani wrote on X, "Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump. As the partnership between India and the United States deepens, the Adani Group is committed to leveraging its global expertise and invest $10 billion in US energy security and resilient infrastructure projects, aiming to create up to 15,000 jobs. "

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Adani for "defrauding American investors and bribing officials", The Times of India reported.

Sagar Adani, Adani Green Energy executives and Cyril Cabanes have been charged with conspiring to "commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their roles in a multi-billion dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions through false and misleading statements".

Prosecutors claimed Adani was referred to by some conspiracy by code names 'Numero uno' and 'the big man'.