The News
US prosecutors indicted India’s second-richest man on Wednesday for allegedly bribing Indian government officials to gain lucrative contracts, and concealing them from US investors.
Billionaire Gautam Adani and other executives allegedly paid more than $250 million in bribes to obtain solar energy supply contracts with New Delhi, ultimately raising capital on false statements.
The indictment comes just weeks after the Adani Group pledged to invest $10 billion in US energy and infrastructure projects. The Kenyan government on Thursday said it was scrapping two Adani deals worth $2.6 billion, including one to manage the country’s biggest airport, citing ”credible information of corruption.″
Adani Group has denied the charges, calling them “baseless,” according to AFP. The Indian government is yet to respond, although opposition parties have called for a full investigation.
SIGNALS
Modi government sees rise in ‘big-ticket’ corruption
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power promising to be a “crusader against corruption,” after the previous government had been rocked by several scandals, yet “big ticket” corruption has risen under his leadership, particularly among India’s elite, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta argued in Frontline magazine. India’s two richest men, Mukesh Ambani and Adani, have close ties to Modi, and have allegedly benefited from his government’s policies, he wrote. Although the Adani group has managed to shrug off activist short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations of improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation, the conglomerate will find it harder to walk away from accusations by the US government, the Wilson Center’s Michael Kugelman told Bloomberg TV.
Adani firm at center of charges is major backer of India’s green expansion
Adani’s renewables company, which is at the heart of the charges, is the main backer behind a significant portion of Modi’s solar energy development projects, and in the next three years, India is expected to produce over half of the world’s new capacity for renewable energy. Adani’s infrastructure deals in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh appeared to have been facilitated by the Indian government’s diplomatic ventures, Scroll.in reported, prompting India’s opposition leader to say, “This is not India’s foreign policy. This is Adaniji’s foreign policy.”