Hyderabad: A recent US indictment has revealed a major bribery scandal involving people linked to billionaire Gautam Adani and his associates. The case alleges that secret nicknames were used for communication among the conspirators in a deliberate effort to shield their activities from scrutiny.
According to the indictment, the accused include Gautam Adani's nephew Sagar Adani, who serves as an executive director on the board of Adani Green, the green energy arm of the group, former executives Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, alongside Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Vneet S Jaain and Deepak Malhotra, all of whom face charges of conspiring to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the charges, these individuals orchestrated and facilitated corrupt payments while maintaining coded communications to mask the involvement of high-profile figures.
Gautam Adani, the central figure in the scandal was referred to using a variety of code names, including 'SAG', 'Mr A', 'Numero Uno', and 'The Big Man'. Another key figure, Vneet S Jaain, was given names like 'V', 'Snake' and 'Numero Uno Minus One', says the indictment.
The conspirators used these nicknames in private messages to avoid directly naming Adani or Jaain while discussing their activities. Many of these conversations happened over electronic messaging, been while some of the accused were in the United States.
According to the indictment, Sagar Adani also played a role by using his cell phone to monitor the details of the bribes. The US indictment accusations claim that Adani paid bribes to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms on solar power contracts.
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