Adani Bribery Charges: Former AG Mukul Rohatgi speaks about Gautam Adani's US Indictment; refers to two Counts to clear air

Former Attorney General and Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday said that there are five Counts in the US indictment that alleged fraud against Adani group, but names of Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain are present only in three Counts. Rohatgi said two key counts in the United States indictment papers—comparable to charges under the Indian Penal Code—do not mention Gautam Adani or his nephew, Sagar Adani, by name.

He said, "Count 1 and count 5 are more important than the others but in neither are Adani and his nephew charged. Count 1 is against certain other persons minus the two Adanis."

He was addressing the media in his individual capacity.


The first Count is that there is a conspiracy to violate the foreign corrupt practices act in the US parliament. Gautam and Sagar Adani are not named in this charge, said the senior advocate.


He further said the fifth Count is another important count relating to obstruction of justice and the two Adanis or Adani officials have not been named in this either.

Rohatgi said that the charges do not mention the person or entity that has been bribed, which is a must in a chargesheet.

"You have to be specific to say that so and so has done such and such act, so and so have bribed certain individuals because this is the chargesheet alleging that adanis have bribed Indian entities relating to the purchasing of power. But I do not find a single name or detail in the detail as to who has been bribed and in what manner they have been bribed," Rohatgi said.

Earlier, Adani Renewables had released a filing saying Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and senior executive Vneet Jaain are clear of all bribery charges as per the US Department of Justice, but added that there are three charges of indictment.


In an exchange filing, AGEL has said that news published by various media houses on the bribery and corruption
charges against Adani Officials is ‘incorrect’. The reports, which suggested that key Adani executives—Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and senior director Vneet Jaain—were facing bribery and corruption charges under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), have been refuted by the company. The Adani Group emphasised that while the executives are facing charges related to securities and wire fraud, no allegations of bribery or foreign corruption have been made against them.