Gautam Adani, one of the world's richest men with an estimated fortune of $85 billion, heads an influential conglomerate in strategic sectors such as energy, infrastructure and mining. Its group, and in particular its subsidiary Adani Green Energy, has established itself as a major player in the field of renewable energies. The 62-year-old Indian entrepreneur is making headlines in the US due to new charges of corruption and fraud brought by the New York federal prosecutor's office, which endanger the stability of his economic empire.
A scandal that goes beyond India's borders
According to federal prosecutors in New York, Gautam Adani and his associates paid more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials in order to obtain lucrative solar energy contracts, through his subsidiary Adani Green Energy. These payments were allegedly made with the aim of guaranteeing access to lucrative markets and securing large-scale projects linked to the energy transition. These accusations would reinforce the suspicion of a systematic culture of illegality, fraud and corruption within the empire.
Prosecutors also claim that the group concealed these practices by manipulating financial information intended for investors. This is also where the United States comes in: to raise funds, particularly from American investors, Adani and its partners would have provided false financial information, which would have made it possible to create a misleading image of the solidity and the profitability of their activities. These manipulations would have allowed them to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, part of which came from the American financial markets. There Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American financial markets regulator, has filed a lawsuit for electronic fraud and securities manipulation.
