Adani ‘bribery’ row: India denies receiving US summons; check details

Almost a week after the United States Department of Justice accused billionaire Gautam Adani and others of being involved in a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that it is a legal matter between private firms and the US Department of Justice. The Ministry also added that the central government has not received any request from Washington, according to Reuters.
This is India’s first official comment on the indictment of Adani by the US authorities.
“This is a legal matter involving private firms and individuals and the U.S. Department of Justice,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters at a weekly media briefing.
“There are established procedures and legal avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed,” he added.
The MEA spokesperson mentioned that the Indian government was not informed in advance about the indictment and is not part of the ‘conversation’ at this point.
When asked about any request by a foreign government for service of summons or arrest warrant, Jaiswal said that India has not received any request on this case from the US side and that ‘such requests are examined on merit’.
Earlier, the United States Department of Justice accused billionaire Gautam Adani, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani, and the managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S Jaain, of participating in a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts. They were also accused of misleading US investors during fundraisers.
However, the Adani Group denied the charges, referring to them as ‘baseless’ and vowed to seek ‘all possible legal recourse’.
In the meantime, the case has sparked political wrangling in India, with the opposition parties accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of favouring Adani and blocking investigations against him in India.
With agency inputs.