Billionaire Gautam Adani of India's Adani Group charged with agreeing to pay over Ksh.30B in bribes

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 Thursday 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.