Asia's second richest man indicted in US

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted in New York (USA) on charges of conspiracy to bribe to obtain billion-dollar contracts.

Billionaire Gautam Adani has a net worth of more than 85 billion USD, is the second richest person in Asia after his compatriot Mukesh Ambani and the 18th richest person in the world , according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is the founder of the multi-industry corporation Adani Group.

Billionaire Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group

The US Justice Department announced on November 20 that Mr. Gautam Adani and seven senior executives of the companies, including his nephew Sagar Adani, promised to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure multi-billion dollar solar power contracts, according to CNN. Those solar power contracts were expected to bring in more than $2 billion in after-tax profits over about 20 years.

Bribery is alleged to have been an act of lying to investors and banks in the US to raise billions of dollars and obstructing justice, according to US Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller.

Authorities said Mr. Adani met with an Indian official to propose the plan, which ran from 2020 to 2024. The defendants met regularly and discussed the plan, according to phone evidence.

In a parallel move, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicted Mr. Adani, his nephew (who heads Adani Green Energy) and Cyril Cabanes of Azure Power Global for conspiring to pay bribes to help the companies win lucrative Indian government contracts. The SEC said Adani Green raised more than $175 million from US investors for the scheme.

Adani Group has not commented on the case. The value of the group has been hit hard by allegations of stock manipulation, audit fraud and money laundering last year from speculative investment firm Hindenburg Research. Mr. Gautam Adani has denied Hindenburg’s allegations.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-giau-thu-2-chau-a-bi-truy-to-tai-my-185241121065101158.htm