As the winter session of parliament has started, another attack on India’s leading Adani Group has been unleashed again. US prosecutors have indicted him, and few others for allegedly offering Rs. 2,029 Crores ($265 million) in bribes to Indian Sate government officials for securing “lucrative solar energy supply contracts” with state electricity distribution companies.
Prosecution refers to one of the “Corrupt Official‟ as “Foreign Official #1” – an unnamed high-ranking Andhra Pradesh government official. Who can this man be? Before we get into it, let‟s understand what the claims are.
There are allegations that the Adani Group paid him a whopping Rs.1,750 Crores (around $228 million) as bribe. In exchange, this official facilitated that the state‟s distribution companies agree to purchase Seven Gigawatts of solar power from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) under the manufacturing linked project. Let‟s delve deeper and try to find out who this “Foreign Official #1” is.
Page 14, of the 54-page document, makes a stunning allegation that Gautam Shantilal Adani himself met this “Foreign Official #1” thrice in the period from August 7, 2021 to November 20, 2021 for advancing the execution of Purchase and Sale Agreement between Solar Energy Corporation of India and Andhra Pradesh‟s state electricity distribution companies. Interestingly, days after the meeting, Jagan Mohan Reddy Government in November decided to procure 7000 MW solar power from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) from 2024 onwards.
Interestingly, days after the meeting, Jagan Mohan Reddy Government in November decided to procure 7000 MW solar power from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) from 2024 onwards.
If these allegations are true, a businessman of the stature of Gautam Adani wouldn‟t have met someone less than the Key Policymaker in this regard. And this is where the story unfolds!
Andhra Political Circles were abuzz in Sept 2021 that Gautam Adani along with his brothers met the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in Jagan’s Tadepalli Residence. The meeting took place in the first week of September 2021, just the exact timeline that the US Court has mentioned.
Usually when such meetings take place, media is informed later but this was never disclosed! Neither the CMO, nor the Adani Group ever took interest in revealing about the meeting, and Andhra media covered the story by merely quoting sources.
Is this just a coincidence or is Jagan actually the alleged Corrupt “Foreign
Official #1” mentioned in the Indictment? In September 2021, the Communist Party of India (CPI) demanded the state government to disclose the details of this secret meeting between Chief Minister Jagan Reddy and Gautam Adani. The Deeper you dig, more interesting it becomes!
The indictment document clearly mentions that Bribes were offered between July 2021 and February 2022, and it was only after this payment that the electricity distribution companies of Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu,
Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh entered into PSAs with SECI. Opposition has been targeting the Modi Government for long over Adani‟s involvement but this time; they have been framed as a part of the Nexus. During the mentioned period, all these states had a Non-BJP ruled Government. Only Jammu & Kashmir had President‟s Rule, presided by the Lieutenant Governor.
The document further alleges that Sagar Adani (Nephew of Gautam Adani), Executive Director of Adani Green Energy, and one of the accused in this case, used his cellular phone to keep track of bribes offered to the “Government
Officials” in various states. The Bribe notes identified:
i) The state or region for which government officials had been offered a bribe, and
ii) The total amount of the offered bribe.
This further establishes that all allegations in the indictment are for bribing the state government officials that also include Congress ruled Chhattisgarh which was among the very firsts to enter into a PSA under Bhupesh Baghel at the helm. This is hilarious as the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has been quite vocal against Adani for quite a long time but if these allegations are proven true, it would mean even his close confidants don‟t agree with him.
Coming back to “Foreign Official #1‟, Jagan Mohan Reddy took the oath as
Andhra Pradesh‟ Chief minister on 30 May 2019, and remained in the chair till
June 2024 until NDA stormed back to power under CM N Chandrababu Naidu.
Interestingly, indictment also mentions the same tenure for “Foreign Official #1”! Page 6 of the document reads,
Foreign Official #1” was a citizen of India. From approximately May 2019 through June 2024, he served as a high-ranking government official of Andhra Pradesh.
This again points towards Jagan Mohan Reddy. Only time would tell whether it was actually him or not, but one cannot deny the fact that all mentions, co- related events, and chronology point towards him. The prosecutors in the US also claimed that some conspirators involved in the scheme used code names like “Numero Uno” and “the big man”, which referred to Gautam Adani.
All these proceedings are under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted in 1977. President-elect Donald J. Trump wanted to strike down this law during his first term. Even Jay Clayton, the new US attorney for the Southern
District of New York appointed by Trump, has been critical of this law. Both in the past have called it an unfair law for American Companies.
Time will decide the fate of Adani Group in the long run but knee-jerk damage is already done. As the investigation continues, the spotlight remains firmly on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, with mounting questions surrounding his involvement in the controversial dealings. If the speculation proves true, the implications could be far-reaching, not just for the Adani Group, but for the political landscape of Andhra Pradesh as well. However, it is important to note that all the claims presented are based on the contents of the indictment document and ongoing speculation, with no official confirmation at this stage.
