Just after the Adani Group, helmed by billionaire Gautam Adani, bounced back from the attack by American short-seller Hindenburg Research, which had accused it of stock manipulation and fraud, the conglomerate has suffered a massive hit as prosecutors in the United States charged Gautam Adani with helping drive a $250 million bribery scheme.
Stocks of Adani Group companies fell up to 20% on Thursday after Adani and seven others faced charges in the US. Prosecutors have alleged that the group bribed Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The US prosecutors have charged Adani and others because they allege the defendants concealed the plan to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts as they sought to raise money from US investors.
The US prosecutors have claimed that the seeds for the bribery scheme involving Adani were planted between December 2019 and July 2020, The New York Times reported. Adani Green Energy and another renewable-energy company listed on the New York Stock Exchange won contracts with the Solar Energy Corporation of India, a state-owned company that tries to increase renewable energy use in the country.