An arrest warrant against Gautam Adani was unsealed in a New York court last month after the billionaire industrialist was indicted on charges of bribery and fraud.
India Today exclusively accessed the details of the arrest warrant, which mentions that Judge Robert M Levy ordered for it to be unsealed on October 31, 2024. The indictment and the arrest warrant were unsealed to provide the documents to foreign law enforcement agencies. The warrant was unsealed following an application by the US Attorney for New York (Eastern District).
As per American law, an arrest warrant is issued by courts unless there is a strong expectation that the accused will voluntarily appear in court.
Speaking to India Today, senior advocate Vijay Aggarwal said just because an arrest warrant has been issued in America, it doesn’t mean that Adani will be arrested. “Just because there is an arrest warrant, it doesn’t mean he (Adani) will be arrested, and the warrant will be executed in India. It never happens like that. It is not a James Bond movie,” Aggarwal said.
The US Justice Department has accused Adani, his nephew, and six others, of paying USD 265 million (Rs 2,029 crore) in bribes to Indian government officials for securing solar power contracts with state electricity distribution companies. The bribes were allegedly paid between 2020 and 2024.
The US prosecutors claimed that this fact was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani Group raised billions for the solar energy project. The Adani Group hoped to potentially earn more than $2 billion in profit over 20 years.
Although the bribery charges are linked to Indian state officials, US law allows it to pursue corruption cases if they involve American investors or markets. The Adani Group has dismissed the charges as “baseless” and said it would tackle the matter legally.
At the heart of the case is a contract secured by Adani Green Energy and another renewable-energy company, Azure Power, to supply 12 gigawatts of solar-generated electricity to the government-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). However, SECI struggled to find customers to purchase the solar power due to high prices.
Sensing that it would jeopardise the deal with SECI, Adani and Azure conspired to offer bribes to state officials. The Adani Group paid USD 265 million in bribes to government officials of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir to secure contracts with state discoms, according to the US indictment.