Adani US indictment: What senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi?and Mahesh Jethmalani said about the charges

Former Attorney General of India and Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday pointed out that Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have not been accused of bribery or obstruction of justice charges filed by United States prosecutors. According to Rohatgi, only some senior officials have been named in the bribery and obstruction of justice charges in the US indictment.

CREDIT: BCCL

Adanis not named

"I have gone through this indictment by the US court. My assessment is that there are five charges or five counts. It is important to note that counts one and five are more important than the others, but neither in Count 1 nor in Count 5 is Mr Adani or his nephew charged," Rohatgi told ANI.

"Count number 1 of the indictment is against certain other persons minus the two Adanis. It includes some of their officers and one foreign person... The first allegation is that there is a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act framed by the US Parliament. In that, the Adanis are not named; their officers may be named," he added.

'Who was paid the bribe?'

Rohatgi, who has represented Adani in the past, also noted that in the charges where the Adanis have been named, there is no clarity on to whom the bribe has been paid or the manner of the payments.

CREDIT: AP

"I do not find a single name or a single detail in the chargesheet as to who has been bribed, in what manner he has been bribed, and the official belongs to such and such department. This chargesheet is completely silent," he said.

Also read: Who is Sagar Adani, the nephew of Gautam Adani, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued in US?

'Timing of DOJ action suspicious'

Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani also raised questions about the timing and intent of the DOJ¡¯s actions in filing charges against the Adanis.

¡°The DOJ is acting with unseemly haste. The indictment appears rushed and lacks substance. This has the markings of a political hatchet job,¡± he said.

CREDIT: BCCL

The former Rajya Sabha MP also accused the Congress of playing politics over the case.

DOJ indictment

The DOJ, in its indictment, claimed that Adani Group's executives were involved in a scheme to pay $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure solar electricity contracts projected to generate $2 billion in profit over 20 years.

What Adani Group said

The Adani Group on Wednesday denied bribery allegations in a stock exchange filing and stated that media reports were incorrect.

CREDIT: REUTERS

According to the filing, the DOJ indictment lists five counts, and none of them named Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, or Vneet Jaain in connection with bribery or obstruction of justice. The bribery count specifically names executives from Azure Power and a Canadian investor.

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