Gautam Adani indicted: White House reacts, ‘confident’ in navigating crisis

The White House said it is aware of the allegations against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, who was indicted in New York over his role in an alleged multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme.

US prosecutors said Gautam Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power plant project.

Adani Group denied the allegations as “baseless”, while Indian government officials haven't commented so far.

During a media briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration is aware of the charges against Adani.

Asserting that the relationship between India and the US is built on a strong foundation, the White House spokesperson has expressed confidence that the US can navigate the ongoing crisis surrounding bribery charges against Gautam Adani.

“Obviously, we're aware of these allegations, and I would have to refer you to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and DOJ (Department of Justice) about the specifics of those allegations against the Adani Group,” Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“What I will say is on the US and India relationship, we believe that it stands on an extremely strong foundation anchored in ties between our people and cooperation across a full range of global issues,” Jean-Pierre added.

Advocating strong India-US ties, the White House press secretary said, “What we believe and we are confident about is that we'll continue to navigate this issue as we have with other issues that may have come up as you just stated. And so the specifics of this, this is something that the SEC and DOJ can speak to directly, but again, we believe that…this relationship between the two nations has been built on a strong foundation.”

Baseless charges: Adani Group

On Thursday, Adani Group called US charges that their billionaire founder Gautam Adani had paid more than $250 million in bribes “baseless”, as the opposition leader demanded the tycoon's arrest.

The stiff denial came after shares in the industrialist's conglomerate nosedived more than 23 per cent in Mumbai, the morning after a bombshell indictment in New York accused him of deliberately misleading international investors.

"The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied," the conglomerate said in a statement.

"All possible legal recourse will be sought," it added.

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi said the businessmen should be taken into custody.

"We demand that Adani be immediately arrested. But we know that won't happen as Modi is protecting him," Rahul Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi.

“Modi can't act even if he wants to, because he is controlled by Adani,” the Congress MP alleged.

The BJP, on the other hand, slammed Rahul Gandhi's attack on Prime Minister Modi as part of his long-running efforts to target its leader and noted that none of the four states named in American courts had a BJP government.

"Law will take its own course," said BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra.