US SEC requests help from Indian authorities in Adani fraud probe

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Indian authorities for help in its investigation of Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew over alleged securities fraud and a $265-million bribery scheme, a court filing showed on Tuesday. 

The regulator told a New York district court it was making efforts to serve its complaint on the founder and his nephew, Sagar Adani, and was seeking help from India's law ministry to do so. 

Neither individual is in US custody, and both are now in India. 

"The SEC has requested assistance ... under the Hague service convention," it said in the court filing. 

Adani Group and India's law ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he did not discuss the Adani case with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington, describing it to reporters as an individual issue never discussed by leaders. 

India's opposition Congress party has called for Adani's arrest and accused Modi of shielding him or favouring him in deals in the past. Modi's party and Adani have denied the charges. 

Last year, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment accusing Adani of bribing Indian officials to convince them to buy electricity produced by Adani Green Energy , a subsidiary of his Adani Group. 

He then misled US investors by providing reassuring information about the company's anti-graft practices, it added. 

Adani Group has called the accusations "baseless" and vowed to seek "all possible legal recourse". 

In January, Adani Green said it had appointed independent law firms to review the US indictment.