Gautam Adani: US court issues arrest warrant for one of India’s richest men over ‘$250m bribes’
A US federal court has issued an arrest warrant for one of India’s richest men.
Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with allegedly defrauding investors and bribing officials.
The 62-year-old Adani Group boss, worth $116bn (£91.77bn) faces the allegations along with his nephew Sagar Adani and six others in relation to one of the world’s largest solar projects.
Adani Group has been accused of fraudulent practices in the past.
File pic: AP/Manish Swarup
An investigation conducted by the FBI claimed Mr Adani and others agreed to bribe Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
Deputy assistant attorney general Lisa Miller said: “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250m [£197.75m] in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice.”
FBI assistant director James Dennehy said: “Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation.”
The company has been accused of being too close to prime minister Narendra Modi in the past.
File pic: AP/Manish Swarup
The 54-page indictment said that between 2020 and 2024, the defendants agreed to pay bribes for contracts that would generate more than $2bn (£1.58bn) in profits.
The FBI said on several occasions, Mr Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution.
According to the indictment, some conspirators would use the codenames “numero uno” and “the big man” to refer to Mr Adani in private.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani pictured in January 2024.
File pic: AP/Ajit Solanki
“Sagar Adani had notes on his cellphone that tracked the region where a bribe was paid, the amount paid and the expected contract size for solar power business that his company would be expected to provide in return,” it said.
It added text messages allegedly revealed other Adani Group associates attempted to destroy evidence and mislead federal investigators.
In a press conference leader of opposition, Rahul Gandhi demanded: “Mr Adani be arrested immediately for breaking the law in the US and India and a start of an investigation. Prime Minister Modi is protecting the businessman because he is involved in his corruption.”
BJP leader Sambit Patra said the allegations were against the company, who will reply to them. He added: “The people of this country are behind PM Modi and his credibility is intact and growing.”
Read more from Sky News:
Ukraine fires UK missiles into Russia
Four dead after drinking ‘free shots’ in Laos
Banana duct-taped to wall sells for $6.2m
In February 2023, US short-seller Hindenburg Research published a report alleging the Adani Group was manipulating their stock prices, committing accounting fraud and was involved in money laundering.
The group dismissed these allegations as “malicious and baseless”.
But the allegations wiped off over $100bn (£79bn) from the company’s valuation.
India’s Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi speaks to the media on Gautam Adani.
Pic: AP/Manish Swarup
In response to the most recent allegations, the group said: “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.”
A number of Adani projects in Kenya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia have become major issues of contention regarding transparency and environmental damage and have faced major protests outside India.
The twin threats of climate change and Russian malign activity in the Arctic must be taken “deadly seriously,” David Lammy has warned.
Sky News joined him on the furthest reaching tour of the Arctic by a British foreign secretary.
We travelled to Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago that is the most northern settled land on Earth, 400 miles from the North Pole.
It is at the heart of an Arctic region facing growing geopolitical tension and feeling the brunt of climate change.
Mr Lammy told us the geopolitics of the region must be taken “deadly seriously” due to climate change and “the threats we’re seeing from Russia”.
We witnessed the direct impact of climate change along Svalbard’s coastline and inland waterways. There is less ice, we were told, compared to the past.
David Lammy and Norway’s Foreign Minister Barth Eide view the melting Blomstrandbreen glacier. Pic: PA
The melting ice is opening up the Arctic and allowing Russia more freedom to manoeuvre.
“We do see Russia’s shadow fleet using these waters,” Mr Lammy said. “We do see increased activity from submarines with nuclear capability under our waters and we do see hybrid sabotage of undersea cables at this time.”
In Tromso, further south, the foreign secretary was briefed by Norwegian military commanders.
The foreign secretary visiting SvalSat, a satellite ground station which monitors climate in Svalbard. Pic: PA
Vice Admiral Rune Andersen, the Chief of Norwegian Joint Headquarters, told Sky News the Russian threat was explicit.
“Russia has stated that they are in confrontation with the West and are utilising a lot of hybrid methods to undermine Western security,” he said.
But it’s not just Vladimir Putin they’re worried about. Norwegian observers are concerned by US president Donald Trump’s strange relationship with the Russian leader too.
Norwegian observers are concerned about the Russian leader – and Trump being ‘too soft’ on him. Pic: AP
Karsten Friis, a Norwegian defence and security analyst, told Sky News: “If he’s too soft on Putin, if he is kind of normalising relations with Russia, I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I would expect Russia to push us, to test us, to push borders, to see what we can do as Europeans.”
Changes in the Arctic mean new challenges for the NATO military alliance – including stepping up activity to deter threats, most of all from Russia.
More from Sky News:
Trump doubles down on Putin criticism
Why Russian troops are gathering near ‘fortress city’
In Iceland, we toured a NATO airbase with the foreign secretary.
There, he said maintaining robust presence in the Arctic was essential for western security.
“Let’s be clear, in this challenging geopolitical moment the high north and the Arctic is a heavily contested arena and we should be under no doubt that NATO and the UK need to protect it for our own national security.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
This is also about distracting Russia, drawing away resources that could have been used in the war in Ukraine and deterring it in the future.
Because the more Arctic opens up, the more this once pristine wilderness is becoming the arena of national rivalry and potentially conflict.
World
‘What did they do to be burned and bombed?’: Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment
A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment.
Warning: This article contains images readers may find distressing
The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words.
“Now, we need action,” Omar Dinn said.
He’s identified two children inside Gaza who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency.
Israel-Gaza latest: Netanyahu reportedly accepts US ceasefire plan
Britain has taken only two patients from Gaza for medical treatment in 20 months of Israeli bombardment.
Children are among the bulk of the casualties in Gaza
“Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that’s unfolding in Gaza are children,” he continued. “And children are the most vulnerable.
“They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are.
“They are children, just like my children, just like everybody’s children in this country – and we have the ability to help them.”
Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they’re working under.
They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day.
Dr Victoria Rose is a British surgeon working in southern Gaza’s last remaining hospital
Dr Victoria Rose told us: “Every time I come, I say it’s really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It’s mass casualties. It’s utter carnage.
“We are incapable of getting through this volume. We don’t have the personnel. We don’t have the medical supplies. And we really don’t have the facilities.
“We are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.”
One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment.
Karam, aged one, has a birth defect that could be easily fixed with surgery
His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body.
“It’s a massive burn for a little guy like this,” Dr Rose says. “He’s so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.”
Hatem’s grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: “What did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries? To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.”
Hatem Senior
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The second child identified by the charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine.
He’s suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment – unavailable to him in Gaza right now.
Read more:
Gaza doctor’s nine children killed
How the new Gaza aid rollout collapsed
Karam, aged one, has a birth defect that could be easily fixed with surgery
Karam’s mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: “No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn’t be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying.”
Children are among the bulk of casualties – some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials – and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway