U.S. 'confident' of strong ties with India amid Adani indictment

The U.S. government has reacted to billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani's indictment in a U.S. court, saying the relationship between the two countries is built on a "strong foundation" and that it's confident both the countries will continue to navigate the issue.

At her daily news conference on Thursday, White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: "Obviously we're aware of these allegations, and I would have to refer you to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and DOJ (Department of Justice) about the specifics of those allegations against the Adani Group."

"What I will say is on the US and India relationship, we believe that it stands on an extremely strong foundation anchored in ties between our people and cooperation across a full range of global issues," Jean-Pierre said.

"What we believe and we're confident about is that we'll continue to navigate this issue as we have with other issues that may have come up as you just stated. And so the specifics of this, this is something that the SEC and DOJ can speak to directly, but again, we believe that...this relationship between India and the US has been built on a strong foundation," she said.

The U.S. indictment accuses Adani and his associates of orchestrating a bribery scheme to secure government contracts, including India’s largest solar power project, projected to generate $2 billion in profits over two decades. The allegations say Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain, managing director and CEO of Adani Green Energy, along with five other individuals, allegedly paid bribes of over $250 million to Indian officials to secure these solar energy contracts. Prosecutors allege they misled investors while raising capital from U.S. and international investors. These allegations compound previous concerns raised by short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani group of accounting irregularities and stock manipulation earlier in 2023.

Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also charged Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani for an alleged bribery plot that involved paying or promising to pay the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to secure their commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani Green and Azure Power.

The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations, made by the US Department of Justice and the SEC against Gautam Adani and nephew Sagar Adani, as "baseless" and denied them in an official statement released to the exchanges. It said it will pursue all the legal options available before the company.