'Baseless, Innocent Unless Proven Guilty': Adani Group Denies US Bribery Allegations After Congress, BJP Exchange Barbs

The Adani Group on Thursday (21 November) denied the allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and called them "baseless."

This comes after Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Indian multinational Adani Group was indicted in New York for his alleged involvement in a multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme.

The press release highlighted that the US Department of Justice itself says, "The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

The group vowed to seek all possible legal recourse and asserted to have always upheld and steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance.

"We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws," the statement concluded as the shares of Adani companies fell up to 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, Congress, which has been targeting the Adani group for some time, sharpened its attack and reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back at Congress by saying that all the states mentioned here were Opposition-ruled during that time as states named are Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

US authorities stated that Gautam Adani and seven other co-defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay around $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure contracts.