- Gandhi’s order comes after Adani shares fell nearly 20%.
- The indictment accuses Adani of paying more than $250 million in bribes.
- Bribes paid to Indian officials to obtain solar contracts, read the charges.
Mumbai: Indian billionaire Gautam Adani should be arrested after US prosecutors accused him of paying more than $250 million in bribes to obtain lucrative government contracts, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said Thursday.
Gandhi’s request came after shares of the industrialists group fell nearly 20% in Mumbai, the morning after a surprise indictment in New York accused him of deliberately misleading international investors.
Adani is a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at one time the world’s second-richest man, and has long been accused by critics of taking improper advantage of their relationship.
“We demand that Adani be arrested immediately. But we know that will not happen because Modi is protecting him,” Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi.
“Modi cannot act even if he wanted to, because he is under Adani’s control.”
The indictment issued on Wednesday accuses Adani and several of his subordinates of paying huge sums of more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials in exchange for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
These deals were expected to generate more than $2 billion in after-tax profits over approximately 20 years.
None of the multiple defendants named in the case are in custody.
U.S. Attorney Bryon Pace said in a statement that Adani and two other Adani Group board members “lied about the bribery scheme while seeking to raise capital from U.S. and international investors.”
The indictment led to huge losses at key listed unit Adani Enterprises and several other subsidiaries immediately after the Mumbai Stock Exchange reopened on Thursday.
The group’s renewable energy company admitted the charges against the businessman and two other Adani Group board members in a brief statement.
Adani Green Energy said it had decided to halt a planned bond sale “in light of these developments,” but did not provide further comment on the allegations.
said his nephew and board member Sagar Adani, who was also named in the charge sheet Agence France-Presse In October, there was no “political contact” between the Adani group and the Modi government.
“We basically prepared what the government really needed, in its best interest,” he added.
He added, “All the projects we obtained were not granted with any concession, but rather through an independent and transparent auction system.”
Modi’s government has not yet commented on the charges, but ruling Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Amit Malviya said the indictment appeared to implicate opposition parties and not his party.