Didn't get notice from US officials regarding bribery probe: Adani Group

By Sidhartha Shukla

Adani companies haven’t received any notice from the US Department of Justice regarding a probe into whether the Indian group may have engaged in bribery, according to exchange filings.
 

The company “states that it has not received any notice from the Department of Justice of US in respect of the allegation referred to in the said article. The company states that the report is false,” listed Adani companies Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., Adani Enterprises Ltd., ACC Ltd., Ambuja Cements Ltd., Adani Power Ltd., Adani Total Gas Ltd., Adani Wilmar Ltd., New Delhi Television Ltd. and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. said in separate filings Monday.

Bloomberg News reported last week — citing people with direct knowledge of the matter — that US prosecutors have widened their probe of the Adani Group to focus on whether an Adani entity may have engaged in bribery as well as the conduct of the conglomerate’s billionaire founder Gautam Adani. The probe, which is also looking at Indian renewable energy company Azure Power Global Ltd., is being handled by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department’s fraud unit in Washington, Bloomberg had reported. 

At the time, the Adani Group had said, “We are not aware of any investigation against our chairman. As a business group that operates with the highest standards of governance, we are subject to and fully compliant with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws in India and other countries.” 

Several of Adani Group’s dollar bonds fell the most in more than a year when markets reopened Monday, and most of the group’s shares declined.