Factbox: Who are the defendants charged in US indictment of Gautam Adani?

Adani Total Gas

21/11/2024 11:47

(Updates with statement from Azure Power in paragraphs 10-11)
    By Kashish Tandon and Hritam Mukherjee
       Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have charged Indian
billionaire Gautam Adani, founder of a conglomerate named after
him, and seven others in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme
related to a renewable energy project in India.
    The authorities said Adani and the other defendants agreed
to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to
obtain contracts. The Adani Group denied the charges as baseless
and that it would seek "all possible legal recourse".
    Here are key details of the people charged by the U.S.
authorities:
     
    ** Gautam Adani, 62, is Asia's wealthiest person after
countryman Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $57.8 billion,
according to Forbes. He set up the Adani Group in 1988,
beginning with commodities trading.
    He and his nephew Sagar are accused of orchestrating the
scheme to secure a solar energy project in India and misleading
the company's investors during a $750 million bond offering,
which raised about $175 million from U.S. investors.
     
    ** Sagar Adani is credited with building the solar and wind
portfolio of Adani Green Energy  ADNA.NS  and currently oversees
its "organization building as well as all strategic and
financial matters", according to its website. He is an executive
director of Adani Green.
        
    ** Vneet Jaain has been the managing director of Adani Green
Energy since 2020. Before that, he headed other Adani group
firms such as Adani Power  ADAN.NS  and Adani Infrastructure,
according to his LinkedIn profile. 
       
    ** Ranjit Gupta, between 2019 and 2022, was the chief
executive officer of energy firm Azure Power Global, whose stock
was traded on the New York Stock Exchange until November 2023.
    U.S. authorities allege that Gupta conspired with Gautam
Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain to pay bribes to Indian
government officials for Adani Green and Azure Power to secure a
solar energy project in India.
    Azure Power told Reuters in an emailed statement that it was
"aware of the actions" announced by the U.S. Department of
Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission against its
former employees. 
        "We have been cooperating with those agencies in
relation to those and other matters and we will continue to do
so," the firm said. 
  
    Gupta, currently CEO of energy firm Ocior Energy, did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. Ocior Energy did
not immediately respond to a separate Reuters request for
comment. 
     
** Cyril Cabanes, who U.S. court documents said was a citizen of
Australia and France who resided in Singapore, was the managing
director of infrastructure overseeing Asia Pacific and Middle
East regions at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a
Canadian investment firm, between 2016 and 2023.
    The indictment document said that an unnamed unit of CDPQ is
the top stakeholder of Azure Power.
    Cabanes, his then-CDPQ colleagues Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak
Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal are accused of joining the
conspiracy between 2021 and 2022.
    Cabanes did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for
comment.
            
    ** Saurabh Agarwal worked with a company associated CDPQ
from May 2017 until July 2023, when he reported to Cabanes.
    CDPQ on Thursday said it was aware of the charges against
its former employees. "Those employees were all terminated in
2023 and CDPQ is cooperating with the U.S. authorities," it
said.
    Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.
     
    ** Deepak Malhotra was Director of infrastructure, South
Asia, at CDPQ when he joined the board of Azure Power in 2019.
He resigned from the board in 2023, along with Cabanes.
    Reuters could not immediately reach Malhotra for comment. 
     
    ** Rupesh Agarwal is currently a co-chair at Indian industry
lobby group FICCI Renewable Energy CEO Council. From July 2022
to August 2022, the period mentioned in the indictment document,
he was the Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at Azure.
    Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon, Hritam Mukherjee and Sethuraman
NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)
 ((mailto:Sethuraman.NR@thomsonreuters.com; (+91 9945291420);
Reuters Messaging:
rm://nallur.sethuraman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))