Chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, billionaire Gautam Adani and other executives have been charged in the United States over their roles in a multi-billion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme amid ongoing uproar in Kenya over controversial multibillion deals Adani subsidiaries have signed with the Kenyan government spanning decades in airport and energy sectors.
Adani was indicted by the US Department of Justice, alongside his nephew Sagar Adani, of orchestrating a bribery scheme involving more than $250 million in payments to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts.
Authorities charged Adani and two other executives at Adani Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, with agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield $2 billion in profits.
Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds during this period on the basis of false and misleading statements.
Five other people were hit with related criminal conspiracy charges, including two executives of another renewable energy company, and three employees of a Canadian institutional investor.
Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours in India, where the charges were announced early this morning.
India’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to court records, a judge has issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement.
Seven of the eight defendants are Indian citizens and lived in India, while the eighth, Cyril Cabanes, is a dual French-Australian citizen who lived in Singapore, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Cabanes, 50, an executive at Azure Power Global. Prosecutors identified Cabanes as one of the Canadian investor’s employees.
Gautam Adani is worth $69.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the world’s 22nd richest person.
President William Ruto, government functionaries and opposition leader Raila Odinga who has since been co-opted in the Kenya Kwanza administration through his ODM party in the broad-based-government arrangement have since defended Adani deals as above board despite raging opposition from the public, professionals and politicians.
Recently, two separate High Courts in Nairobi temporarily slammed brakes on the airport and power line multi-billion deals.
In the first case, in his ruling, High Court Justice Bahati Mwamuye decreed that Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK’s) petition challenging the award of Sh95.7billion 30-year deal between Adani Energy Solutions Limited (AESL) and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) had met the legal threshold for the court to grant conservatory orders halting it despite the instruments the contract having been signed on October 11, 2024.
“Pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the Application dated 23/10(2024, a conservatory order be and is hereby issued suspending the implementation of any Project Agreement between the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th. 6th, and 7th Respondents jointly and severally and the 2nd Respondent and/or any of its related companies and entitles with regard to development of transmission lines, substations, or any other electrical power infrastructure,” Justice Mwamuye ruled.
“Pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application, a conservatory order be and is hereby issued restraining the respondents from entering into any new agreement furthering any existing agreement concerning the second respondent and or any of its related companies and entities with regards to development of transmission lines, substations or any other electrical power infrastructure.”
Additionally, the judge directed the lawyers’ body to forward the application, petition, and court order to the respondents by close of business on Friday and to file an affidavit of service in that regard.
“The respondents shall file and serve their responses to both the application and petition by close of business on 8/11/2024. The parties shall supply the court with physical copies of all pleadings and documents filed by them in this matter,” the judge noted.
The development comes just two days after the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) moved to court seeking conservatory orders pending hearing and determination of the case.
In the second case, momentarily poured cold water on the contentious planned takeover of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by the Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL) after High Court Judge Justice John Chigiti today referred the petition challenging the proposed takeover to Chief Justice Martha Koome for the empanelment of a bench.
In the case, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) had moved to court to challenge the takeover saying that the deal violated the principles of good governance.
The two organisatoins further contended that the process lacked accountability and transparency.
“That this matter is referred to the CJ for empanelment of a bench.” ustice Chigiti ruled.
LSK and KHRC argued that JKIA is a strategic and profitable national asset and the deal is, therefore, irrational and violates the principles of good governance, accountability, transparency, and prudent and responsible use of public money.
In the deal, the Indian firm would upgrade the airport, including the construction of a second runway and a new passenger terminal under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.
KHRC and LSK, however, argued that Kenya can independently raise the estimated Sh238billion needed to expand JKIA without leasing the airport for the stated period.
“Thus, the Adani proposal is unaffordable, threatens job losses, exposes the public, is disproportionate to fiscal risk, and offers no value for money to the taxpayer.” Lawyer Dudley Ochiel said in the application.
Earlier, aviation workers through their lobby group, the Kenya Association of Air Operators (KAAO) had voiced their concerns maintaining that leasing of JKIA to Adani Airports Holdings Limited (AAHL) should be done through an open competitive bidding process for transparency purposes.
KAAO expressed concerns that the bidding process for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) related to the $1.85 billion (approximately Sh239 billion) takeover of JKIA by AAHL did not meet the required criteria and violated the provisions outlined in the PPP Act.
The Adani Group subsidiaries in the country have been pushing for three key PPP projects notably the controversial Social Health Authority (SHA) system to be provided at a cost of Sh104billion, the planned JKIA takeover alongside expansion and management of Ketraco’s power lines all of which have since been contested as obscure.
This comes amid growing public outrage over the shadowy deals shrouded in deep secrecy.
