According to news agency Reuters, the indictment of Gautam Adani, the billionaire head of the Adani Group, on bribery and fraud charges in New York caused a sharp decline in the dollar bond prices of Adani Group firms in early Asian trade on Thursday, November 21.
According to LSEG statistics, debt issued by Adani Port and Special Economic Zone expiring in August 2027 has fallen by more than five cents on the dollar. Adani Electricity Mumbai bonds, which mature in February 2030, plummeted roughly eight cents, while Adani Transmission bonds dropped more than five cents, trading barely above 80 cents, according to the article.
These declines mark the steepest since February 2023, when a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research raised concerns over the Adani group’s debt levels and use of tax havens.
Gautam Adani charged in bribery scheme: US prosecutor
- Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments from investors, US prosecutors said on Wednesday.
- “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” news agency AFP quoted deputy assistant attorney general Lisa Miller as saying.
- Gautam Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar Adani, 30, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd, and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd were charged with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions through false and misleading statements, news agency PTI reported.
- The SEC alleged that the bribery scheme was orchestrated to enable renewable energy companies Adani Green and Azure Power to capitalise on a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project awarded by the Indian government.
- The complaint charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars, the PTI report added.
- The SEC said in a statement that during the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised more than USD 175 million from US investors, and Azure Power’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Simultaneously, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York unsealed criminal charges against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, Cabanes, and others linked to Adani Green and Azure Power.
- The federal indictment unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn charges five others with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery scheme, involving one of the world’s largest solar energy projects.
- Gautam Adani and seven other executives are accused of bribing Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts and defrauding investors by making false statements about bribery and corruption.
- They also allegedly tried to obstruct investigations, according to FBI assistant director James Dennehy.
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Source: HT
