Gautam Adani faces charges for securities law violations, Adani Green says

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged in the United States for alleged securities law violations and faces potential fines but has not been charged under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Adani Green Energy (NS:) said on Wednesday.

US authorities last week accused Adani, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts and misleading U.S. investors.

The company said in a statement that the U.S. SEC complaint “prays for an order directing the defendants to pay civil monetary penalties (but) it does not quantify the amount of penalty”.

The civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission is a parallel case to an indictment against Adani and others by U.S. federal prosecutors.

Adani Green also said in a separate disclosure on Wednesday that “these directors have been charged on three counts in the criminal indictment” for alleged “securities fraud conspiracy, alleged wire fraud conspiracy, and alleged securities fraud.”

The Adani Group has denied the accusations in the U.S. indictment as baseless, and said it will seek all legal recourse.