AHMEDABAD, India (Diya TV) — The Indian government has directed an Ahmedabad district court to take cognizance of a summons from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to billionaire Gautam Adani. The summons is with regard to accusations of securities fraud and a $265 million bribery conspiracy.
The summons, conducted under the Hague Service Convention—and banning direct serving of legal notices in India—is for Adani or his attorney to appear before an American court. The court is set for hearing in New York, and should the summons be served by way of Indian court, then Adani is compelled to go there.
In November 2024, US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six others with plotting a $265 million bribery racket to get Indian government contracts for their solar power business. The indictment alleges that the Adani Group and Azure Power provided bribes to officials to gain business benefits and misled US investors about their anti-bribery policies while raising more than $3 billion.
The Adani Group has refuted the charges, terming them as “baseless,” and has pledged to seek “all possible legal remedies.”
Sagar Adani was visited by FBI officials in March 2023 in the United States, where his electronic equipment was confiscated as part of the inquiry into the alleged bribery scam. The indictment outlines the code names used to refer to Gautam Adani and his role in meetings to arrange such tainted transactions.
The claims have triggered fears of corporate governance in the Adani Group, which has been making ambitious forays into renewable energy ventures in India. The news sent Adani Group shares plummeting, a similar reaction to earlier fraud claims by Hindenburg Research in 2023.
Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a statement that he did not talk to U.S. President Donald Trump about the Adani case during his trip to Washington.
The case highlights the issues confronting India’s fast-growing renewable energy industry, ranging from financial woes, inefficient planning, and regulatory loopholes. Even with the leading position of the Adani Group in the industry, these accusations underscore the need to implement better regulatory structures and market reforms to promote transparency and accountability.
