The indictment of Gautam Adani and key executives of the Adani Group by the US District Court and the SEC on bribery charges has led to serious legal and reputational challenges for one of India’s largest business conglomerates. In the case related to solar energy contracts, the investigation into Adani Green’s $750 million bond sale in 2021 also draws attention.

Muthupandi Ganesan, Lawyer and Partner at Aliant Law, and Anuradha Dutt, Managing Partner at DMD Advocates, and Ketan Mukhija, Senior Partner at Burgeon Law, discussed the options available to Adani Group in light of the complexity and importance of the evolving legal battle.

These are verbatim quotes from the interview.

Question: How do you interpret the many specific allegations that Gautam Adani and others have been accused of and what would your initial thoughts be, what would be the way forward for something like this?

Ganesan: I think the way forward is to look at the breadth and depth of the investigation that is being conducted. What we can see in the currently open sealed indictment is how detailed the investigation is, the level of evidence they have collected, whether it is a text message, an Excel spreadsheet, or photocopies of documents that appear to be real. It was created specifically to show the extent of the alleged conspiracy that took place over a four-year period involving seven different Indian companies in the US regarding energy supply.

I think going forward, the amount of data that needs to be considered by both the public and investors and the various different companies involved in this particular green energy scandal is, if I may put it that way, huge, and that will continue into the future. Take some time to really digest all the evidence collected and understand its significance.

Of course, there is a significant impact for companies operating globally, and there is also the importance of the US foreign practices act and, of course, the US foreign racketeering statute and its outreach to foreign persons and officials. where he is in power and, more importantly, how this affects investors in the United States. I think we are faced with a very interesting situation here. And of course this is just the beginning of the indictments and we’ve seen what that means in terms of arrest warrants of course, we’ll have to see how that develops, but there’s a long way to go. Frankly, I think it’s a very, very important milestone investigation in terms of international efforts against bribery and corruption around the world.

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Question: If I were to ask you, what does this mean in terms of possible arrest and changing jurisdictions? Because it is not clearly written anywhere in the indictments filed, or even in the SEC document, that there is an arrest warrant. Are there warrants issued against them, does the indictment imply that they could be arrested immediately, yes, by the US court or US authorities to be presented to the US Justice Forum, or does the possibility of an arrest warrant not arise? immediately? Second, does this restrict their travel? Can they travel to the United States or any other country for that matter? Because we believe that this is the indictment and that the SEC decision will be shared with all friendly countries, the USA. The United States also has extradition treaties and legal agreements regarding economic criminals with other countries. So, does this significantly restrict the actions of Adani Group leaders, Azure Power leaders and other executives mentioned in this ranking?

Mulberry: I don’t think so right now, but I’m asking a slightly different question. You see, this is something we only know in India, like the charge sheet. What I am saying is that in India you go after public figures only through indictment, you say they are corrupt, you arrest them and you allow their images to be completely blacked out. There is only an indictment, no trial, no conviction yet. But everyone is treating the incident as if there was a prima facie case filed against them by a court. No. So I believe it’s a U.S. court holding, filing an indictment, possibly filing a lawsuit, etc. I think you believe it. But the point is that it can’t be him, it can’t be him or others’ Not to be considered guilty without a real conviction.

Secondly, what I find a bit strange about this case is that the companies they are talking about were all owned by opposition states at that time, Tamil Nadu was under Stalin’s rule, Odisha was under Bijayananda Patnaik’s rule, etc. So someone is definitely targeting Gautam Adani but with the opposition.

The third thing I find strange is that you say that someone has a detailed analysis on their phone of how they can corrupt people, which is also something I find strange. But I mean, these are issues that will come up in court, whether he will be arrested or not, etc. I don’t think this issue should be brought up at this stage.

Whether or not they can travel, if there are arrest warrants, will they go to Interpol, those are things we need to see when they are sorted out. But I think we should not fall into the trap that we fell into with political leaders in India; The mere filing of an accusation means he is guilty.

Question: What are the options currently available to the nine defendants in this case? This is the beginning of the trial, but we’re told this is a grand jury trial. The case is now at a very advanced stage and some of the allegations made are very serious; So while everyone talking about this case is innocent until proven guilty, what are the immediate consequences and what are the options?

Muhija: In this case, they need to defend themselves and collect all the evidence, especially the documentation trail and all the seven discos and their alleged communications and correspondence with the authorities they were in to defend themselves. In front of US officials.

Therefore, as the first speaker noted, there will be a lot of emphasis, a lot of restrictions placed on the evidence collected by the authorities and used in the initial indictment. the documents and oral evidence behind it, etc. So there will be a lot of juggling involved in determining the balance of probabilities. Then the FCPA, which has extraterritorial jurisdiction, will come into play.

In terms of the opportunities and avenues available to them, the first step, of course, would be to have legal counsel there, then gather all the evidence and mount a solid and durable defense before the US courts. When it comes to Indian courts, the board, currently the Securities and Exchange Board of India, may be suo moto conscious, but we have seen this in the past. However, there is still no official investigation launched yet. So I think we will wait for that and then corrective action can be taken by the defendant.

For the full interview, watch the attached video

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