By Kashish Tandon and Hritam Mukherjee
(Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors have charged Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, founder of a conglomerate named after him, and seven others in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme related to a renewable energy project in India.
The authorities said Adani and the other defendants agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to obtain contracts. The Adani Group denied the charges as baseless and that it would seek "all possible legal recourse".
Here are key details of the people charged by the U.S. authorities:
** Gautam Adani, 62, is Asia's wealthiest person after countryman Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $57.8 billion, according to Forbes. He set up the Adani Group in 1988, beginning with commodities trading.
He and his nephew Sagar are accused of orchestrating the scheme to secure a solar energy project in India and misleading the company's investors during a $750 million bond offering, which raised about $175 million from U.S. investors.
** Sagar Adani is credited with building the solar and wind portfolio of Adani Green Energy (NS:ADNA) and currently oversees its "organization building as well as all strategic and financial matters", according to its website. He is an executive director of Adani Green.
** Vneet Jaain has been the managing director of Adani Green Energy since 2020. Before that, he headed other Adani group firms such as Adani Power (NS:ADAN) and Adani Infrastructure, according to his LinkedIn profile.
** Ranjit Gupta, between 2019 and 2022, was the chief executive officer of energy firm Azure Power Global (OTC:AZREF), whose stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange until November 2023.
U.S. authorities allege that Gupta conspired with Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain to pay bribes to Indian government officials for Adani Green and Azure Power to secure a solar energy project in India.
Azure Power told Reuters in an emailed statement that it was "aware of the actions" announced by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission against its former employees.
"We have been cooperating with those agencies in relation to those and other matters and we will continue to do so," the firm said.
Gupta, currently CEO of energy firm Ocior Energy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ocior Energy did not immediately respond to a separate Reuters request for comment.
** Cyril Cabanes, who U.S. court documents said was a citizen of Australia and France who resided in Singapore, was the managing director of infrastructure overseeing Asia Pacific and Middle East regions at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a Canadian investment firm, between 2016 and 2023.
The indictment document said that an unnamed unit of CDPQ is the top stakeholder of Azure Power.
Cabanes, his then-CDPQ colleagues Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal are accused of joining the conspiracy between 2021 and 2022.
Cabanes did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
** Saurabh Agarwal worked with a company associated CDPQ from May 2017 until July 2023, when he reported to Cabanes.
CDPQ on Thursday said it was aware of the charges against its former employees. "Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is cooperating with the U.S. authorities," it said.
Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.
** Deepak Malhotra was Director of infrastructure, South Asia, at CDPQ when he joined the board of Azure Power in 2019. He resigned from the board in 2023, along with Cabanes.
Reuters could not immediately reach Malhotra for comment.
** Rupesh Agarwal is currently a co-chair at Indian industry lobby group FICCI Renewable Energy CEO Council. From July 2022 to August 2022, the period mentioned in the indictment document, he was the Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at Azure.
Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.