SEC informs US court of progress in serving legal documents in Adani case

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a filing before a federal court in New York, said it has sought assistance from India's Ministry of Law and Justice to serve legal documents to billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar in connection with a civil securities case filed last year.

The status update filed on August 11 is the same as the last hearing on June 27.

In the latest update submitted to Magistrate Judge James R Cho of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), the SEC said it is continuing to pursue formal service of the summons and complaint under the provisions of the Hague Service Convention.

The defendants, who are based in India, are yet to be officially served with the summons.

The US SEC has to serve the summons to Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar in the alleged $265 million payoffs to win lucrative renewable power supply contracts through proper diplomatic channels, as it has no jurisdiction to summon a foreign national directly.

The Adani group has denied all charges.

SEC said the Indian authorities "have not yet effected service" to its request for serving the summons.

"The SEC intends to continue communicating with the India MoLJ and pursue service of the defendants via the Hague-Service Convention, and will the court apprised of its efforts," the filing said.

No dates for the next hearing were mentioned.