Indian conglomerate Adani Group said it is aware of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into bribery allegations against a “third party” but denied a relationship with it.
The denial comes on the heels of media reports that Adani Group and its founder, Gautam Adani, were believed to be involved in paying officials in India for favorable treatment on an energy project.
Bloomberg News, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, as well as the DOJ’s Fraud Section, were looking into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by Gautam Adani; Adani Group; and Azure Power, another Adani Group subsidiary.
In a public filing Tuesday, Adani Green Energy responded to the Bloomberg report, claiming it has not received any notice but is “aware of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into potential violations of United States anti-corruption laws by a third party,”
“The company has no relationship with the said third party and is thus unable to comment on the scope of the present United States investigation that the company or any of its personnel are subject to or exposed to in connection with the company’s alleged dealings with the third party,” Adani Green said in the filing.
In January 2023, short seller Hindenburg Research reported the company allegedly engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.” The Hindenburg report caused Adani Group’s market value to drop by $47 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
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