Congress Calls for JPC after Adani Faces US Bribery Allegations

The US District Court in New York has charged Gautam Adani, the Chairman of the Adani Group, with alleged bribery and fraud.

On Thursday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh remarked that this development reinforces the Congress's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the various alleged scams.

In a post on X, Jairam said, "The indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) of the US vindicates the demand that the Indian National Congress has been making since Jan 2023 for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various Modani scams. The INC had asked a hundred questions in its Hum Adani ke Hain (HAHK) series bringing out the various dimensions of these scams and of the intimate nexus that has existed between the PM and his favourite businessman. These questions have remained unanswered."

The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the U.S. Issuer), and Cyril Cabanes.

Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme.

"As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors," stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.

The indictment also accuses the executive of obstructing investigations by the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The US Attorney's office says that the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI New York's Corporate, Securities and Commodities Fraud and International Corruption Units.

The government's case is being handled by the Business and Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.

Gautam Adani's office and the other individuals named in the indictment have not yet commented.