With the US fraud and bribery indictment of Gautam Adani, India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called for the immediate arrest of the Ahmedad-based Adani Group’s chairman on Thursday.
Gandhi, at a press conference hours after the SEC announcement of the US indictment charging Adani and eight others in a Rs 2,100-crore bribery scheme, said that the billionaire broke Indian and American laws.
The top man at the Indian National Congress (INC) party also alleged that as long as PM Narendra Modi and Adani are together, they are safe in India. “I can guarantee that Adani won’t be arrested or investigated in India because the Modi government was protecting him,” Gandhi levelled allegations at PM Modi.
Gandhi also called for the immediate removal of SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch from her post, accusing her of protecting Adani.
Gandhi added that he planned to raise the issue at the Winter session of Parliament commencing next week. He also said that the opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe is still in play.
Shares of Adani Green Energy, which was named in the US indictment, fell 17 per cent by 1pm IST in the NSE. Other Adani group companies also fell between 15 per cent and 20 per cent, pulling major market indices down during the day.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back at the INC over its attack on Gautam Adani and Adani's alleged ties to the ruling coalition. BJP leaders said that all the states mentioned in the US indictment against Adani Green Energy were ruled by opposition parties at that time. Amit Malviya, BJP's IT head, also cast his doubts on the timing of the indictment, that came just before the start of winter session of the Parliament and Trump's second term.
Adani’s plan to reduce debt burden in shambles
The US action already hurt Adani Group’s global financial instruments, including its dollar-denominated bonds that plunged on the announcement charges. Investors, such as GQG Partners, said they were monitoring the situation to review their exposure to the Adani companies.
Adani Group, of late, has been trying to cut its debt burden. Earlier last year, the conglomerate paid around Rs 7,374 crore in share-backed financing and pledged to remove all similar loans by March-end of the same year.
It was later followed by a billion-dollar fundraising placement by Adani Energy Solutions in August of this year, and USD 500 million was raised by selling shares in Adani Enterprises last month.
The USD 1.5 billion that Adani looked to raise through bond issuances under Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions now looks doubtful, since the group announced the suspension of the USD 600 million bond offering in light of the indictment.
The SEC did not shy away in its complaints filed in the US District Court in the East District of New York. “Defendants had been personally and intimately involved in paying or promising bribes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to secure undue influence with Indian state government officials and procure contracts between Indian state governments and SECI that benefitted Adani Green,” read one of the official SEC complaints filed with the US Department of Justice. The defendants here were Gautam Adani, founder and controlling shareholder of Adani Green Energy, and Sagar Adani, the company’s executive director and nephew to Gautam Adani.
