Adani US indictment: The Indian solar deals for which Rs 2,029 crore was allegedly paid in bribes

The indictment by United States prosecutors against Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and seven executives of his conglomerate and a firm named Azure Power that was made public on Wednesday does not name any officials to whom the defendants allegedly paid bribes totalling Rs 2,029 crore, approximately $265 million.

As the indictment alleged, these supply contracts with the Indian government were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period.

However, as Scroll and another news outlets have reported, a complaint by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission claims that one of the officials that Gautam Adani met on September 12, 2021, to discuss “incentives” needed to ensure that Andhra Pradesh entered into a power sale agreement was the state’s chief minister – the post was then held by the YSR Congress Party’s YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The bribe that the companies allegedly offered to “officials in Andhra Pradesh” was Rs 1,750 crore, more than three-quarters of the total amount allegedly paid to all the states together.

Though the indictment document and the complaint of the US market regulator do not name officials who allegedly recieved bribes, the documents contain significant details about the agreements that four states and one Union territory...

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