Gautam Adani, Indian businessman and one of the richest people in the worldhe was formally charged in New York federal courtin the United States of America (USA), for links to an alleged fraud scheme worth billions of dollars.
Adani and seven other defendants are formally accused of having agreed to pay more than 250 million dollars in bribes to Indian government officials – having withheld this information from US investors – to obtain “lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government”, the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn said.
The Indian businessman was also accused, together with his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain – who hold executive positions at Adani Green Energy Limited – of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud. This is due to the role that the aforementioned businessmen played in obtaining funds from US investors and international lenders “based on false and misleading statements”said the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, cited by CNBC.
It is added that “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 obtain capital from American and international investors,” said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New YorkBreon Peace.
With assets exceeding 85 billion dollars, Adani is the second richest person in Asiabehind his compatriot Mukesh Ambani, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Adani is the founder of the extensive Indian conglomerate Adani Group.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
