Gautam Adani in Gandhinagar, India, January 10, 2024. AJIT SOLANKI / AP American federal justice indicted Indian energy magnate Gautam Adani on Wednesday, November 20 in New York, whom it accuses of corruption in the optics of obtaining solar contracts with the Indian government by hiding it from American investors. According to a press release from the Brooklyn prosecutor’s office, the billionaire close to the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, paid with other co-defendants more than 250 million dollars (approximately 237 million euros) in bribes between 2020. and 2024 to Indian civil servants. No arrests were made among the eight people charged, the prosecution told Agence France-Presse. The bribes would have been used, according to prosecutor Breon Peace, “to obtain contracts worth several billion dollars” in the field of solar energy, and Gautam Adani would have “lied about this system of corruption as they sought to raise funds from U.S. and international investors.” Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Gautam Adani, an Indian tycoon in the shadow of Narendra Modi Read later Accused of accounting fraud over several decades in 2023 Gautam Adani, one of the richest men in the world, is the eponymous founder and boss of the Adani Group conglomerate, which ranges from coal mines to ports and airports, including the media. In 2023, his group was accused of “brazen manipulation” of its own shares as well as “multi-decade accounting fraud” by the American investment company Hindenburg Research. Gautam Adani has rejected these accusations. Opposition parties and other critics have long accused him of taking advantage of his relationship with Narendra Modi to unfairly win business and avoiding proper oversight of his company. According to American justice, Gautam Adani “met personally with a representative of the Indian government to implement this corruption plan and the defendants met in person to discuss aspects of its implementation”. Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The shaken empire of Indian billionaire Adani Read later The Adani group saw its stock market value cut by more than $150 billion following the shattering report from Hindenburg Research and the man behind it. business had seen his personal wealth collapse by around $80 billion. But the tycoon and his company had made up for much of those losses. A renewable energy park measuring five times the size of Paris Born in Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat in India, into a middle-class family, Gautam Adani, now 62 years old, abandoned his studies to working briefly in the diamond industry before launching his export business in 1988. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover In 1995, the businessman who was then seeking to diversify his activities won the construction and construction contract operation of the commercial port of Mundra, which has since become the largest in India. At the same time, he engaged in thermal power generation and coal mining at home and abroad. In recent years, he launched a green energy company with ambitious goals, investing in the Indian government’s strategic priorities. In the Indian state of Gujarat, the group notably launched the project for the largest renewable energy park in the world, measuring five times the area of Paris. Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In India, the scandal of the Adani affair embarrassing for Narendra Modi Read later Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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