Adani Group CFO rejects bribery allegations, India says no US request but on case

By Dhwani Pandya, Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Shivam Patel

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The finance chief of India’s Adani Group on Friday rejected U.S. allegations that executives, together with Chairman Gautam Adani, have been a part of a $265 million bribery scheme, whereas the Indian authorities mentioned it has not acquired any U.S. request on the case.

U.S. authorities accused Adani, one of many world’s richest individuals, his nephew and government director Sagar Adani in addition to managing director of Adani Inexperienced, Vneet S. Jaain, of being a part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to safe Indian solar energy provide contracts.

“We reject all of this strongly on behalf of the people,” Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh instructed reporters on the sidelines of an occasion in Mumbai.

“We all know for positive, 100%, that nothing of this type occurred. If we have been paying that amount of money to somebody I would definitely know, so we all know nothing occurred,” Singh mentioned.

The ports-to-power conglomerate has beforehand denied the costs, made earlier this month, as “baseless” and vowed to hunt “all doable authorized recourse”.

Singh mentioned that the group wouldn’t be taking any motion on the U.S. indictment, however that the accused people would make clear on the allegations over the following 10 days after looking for authorized recommendation.

Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for touch upon the CFO’s assertion.

Singh additionally sought to allay issues about any impression from the allegations to the group’s enlargement plans. “No deliberate acquisition will likely be on maintain… nothing will impression our funding plans in logistics and power,” he mentioned.

GOVERNMENT REACTION

India’s international ministry, within the nation’s first official response to Adani’s indictment, mentioned on Friday that bribery allegations towards the billionaire was a authorized difficulty between personal firms and the U.S. Division of Justice and that New Delhi has not acquired any request on the case from Washington.

“This can be a authorized matter involving personal companies and people and the U.S. Division of Justice,” Indian international ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal instructed reporters at a weekly media briefing. “There are established procedures and authorized avenues in such instances which we consider could be adopted.”

The Indian authorities was not knowledgeable prematurely concerning the indictment and isn’t a part of the “dialog” at this level, Jaiswal mentioned.

The indictment has sparked political wrangling in India as many opposition events accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) of favouring Adani and blocking investigations towards him in India, accusations each have denied.

Whereas the federal government had not made any touch upon the indictment to date, Modi’s BJP has mentioned it had no cause to defend Adani and that the regulation will take its course.

FALLOUT

Adani Group shares misplaced about $34 billion in worth after the U.S. indictments, however have recovered sharply this week, with whole losses now at simply over $7 billion.

Shares of Adani Inexperienced Power (NS:ADNA), the corporate on the centre of the indictment, jumped almost 22% on Friday.

The group has acquired public backing from Israel, the place it has investments, and the Abu Dhabi’s Worldwide Holding, its key international investor.

The U.S. indictment has additionally had main ripple results: At the least one Indian state is reviewing its energy cope with Adani, India’s parliament has been disrupted amid political uproar and TotalEnergies (EPA:TTEF) has determined it is not going to make any extra investments in the group.

Adani Inexperienced additionally shelved a $600 million bond difficulty. CFO Singh mentioned on Friday the U.S. bond sale could be delayed to as late as June and that the corporate will as an alternative search for a non-public placement of $500 million round February.

Adani Group will repay roughly $3 billion in debt due over the following 12 months primarily by rupee borrowings, Singh added.

Kenya has scrapped a $2 billion procurement venture that was to offer Adani management of the nation’s predominant airport and it shelved a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership.

Indian banks are additionally reviewing their publicity to the group and whether or not they should tighten due diligence, bankers mentioned on Thursday within the wake of the allegations.