Punching holes in the allegations against Adani Group, senior lawyer and former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi today said the group’s founder chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have not been accused of bribery or obstructing justice in the US. The senior lawyer addressed the media to counter misleading news reports on the US Department of Justice indictment.
“At the outset, I want to tell you that these are my personal legal views. I am not a spokesman for the Adani Group. I am a lawyer. I have been appearing for the Adani Group in several cases. I have gone through this indictment by the US court. There are five charges. It is very important to note that Count 1 and Count 5 are more important than the others. But neither in Count 1 nor Count 5 is Mr Adani or his nephew charged. This is like a chargesheet that charges individuals for specific acts. Count 1 is against certain other persons minus the two Adanis. It includes some officers and one foreign person. The first allegation is there is a conspiracy to violate the (US) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In that, the Adanis are not named,” he said.
Mr Rohatgi said the Adanis and others are named in counts relating to securities and bonds. “In Count 5, which relates to obstruction of justice, the Adanis and their officers are not named. The Adanis and others will respond to this chargesheet in the manner that they desire, they will also respond to stock exchanges. These are my personal views after taking a look at this chargesheet,” he said.
Mr Rohatgi then mentioned something “troubling” about the indictment document.
“When you look at a chargesheet, it must be specific to say that so and so has done such and such act, so and so has bribed certain individuals. But I do not find a single name or detail in the chargesheet as to who has been bribed, in what manner, and which department he belongs. This chargesheet is completely silent. I don’t know how one can respond to this kind of chargesheet. But I am sure the Adanis will take legal opinion from US lawyers,” he said.
Mr Rohatgi later told NDTV that the charges are “not specific”. “It is not written who was bribed, how much bribe was paid and which contract it was paid for. I can’t say if they will share more information later, but these papers have no mention of the amount of bribe or who it was paid to.”