Adani CFO refutes US allegations: ‘Individuals accused in bribery case to clarify matter in 10 days’
- Adani group executives, including Chairman Gautam Adani, will clarify the bribery allegations over the next 10 days.
Adani Group's chief financial officer (CFO) on Friday, November 29, rejected US allegations that group executives, including Chairman Gautam Adani, were part of a $265 million bribery scheme. The CFO claimed that the executives of the conglomerate accused in the alleged bribery case would clarify the matter within the next 10 days after seeking legal advice.
"We reject all of this strongly on behalf of the individuals," CFO Jugeshinder Singh told reporters at an event in Mumbai. "We believe it is not warranted; we know that nothing of this sort happened. If we were paying that amount of cash to someone, I would certainly know, so we know nothing happened," said Singh. "As a group, there will not be any action (on the US indictment), but individuals will be taking steps," Singh said on Friday.
Adani CFO refutes bribery charges
Singh also sought to allay concerns about the allegations' impact on the group's expansion plans. "No planned acquisition will be on hold... nothing will impact our investment plans in logistics and energy," he said.
The ports-to-power conglomerate has previously denied the charges as "baseless" and vowed to seek “all possible legal recourse. US authorities accused Adani, 62, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani, and the managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of participating in a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts and misleading US investors during fund raises there.
He said the allegations made in the US against Group chairman Gautam Adani and others, including his nephew Sagar Adani, are a case of "unique use of prosecutorial authority" and also made it clear that they are not an attack on the group. He added that the individuals named in the allegations will respond and contest the charges at the proper forum.
Also Read: Adani Group’s 2 stocks placed under ASM stage-1 category: Here’s what it means for shareholders
The group's fundamental stance is that capital is tied up when it comes to announced investment and growth plans, hinting that it will continue with all the projects. He said no bank had contacted the Group seeking a review following the allegations made in the US earlier this month.
"Fundamentally, our banking partners understand we don't need their money. Precisely because we don't need it, it's available to us," he said. The group withdrew an ongoing bond sale pending the clearance of the allegations and added that it will proceed with a planned private bond placement. Otherwise, he said there were no pending issues, and the next is supposed to be coming after the FY25 results are out.
He said the Group can repay 30 months of debt obligations, adding that it never goes below 12 months. He said roughly $3 billion of debt would be repaid over the next 12 months, exuding confidence that most banks will refinance it.
The group's aspiration is to raise as much debt as possible from the domestic markets in Indian rupees. Still, it is the absence of the long tenor money needed for long gestation infrastructure projects that take it to the US, he said.
However, he said the group has been trying to deepen the domestic markets' capability to support such projects, including through retail issuances. He said the group has been denying allegations part by part after getting clearance from its legal team, adding that more substantial denials are due in the next week or ten days.
He said the Adani group respects US laws and is cooperating, adding that it does not want to litigate a case in public. The CFO said he was with Gautam Adani in London when the allegations came into public and was surprised.
Impact of US indictment on Adani Group
Adani Group shares lost about $34 billion in value after the US indictments but have recovered sharply this week, with total losses now at just over $7 billion. Shares of Adani Green Energy, the company at the centre of the indictment, jumped nearly 22 per cent on Friday.
The group has received public backing from Israel, which has investments, and Abu Dhabi's International Holding, its key foreign investor. Adani Green also shelved a $600 million bond issue. CFO Singh said on Friday that the US bond sale would be delayed to as late as June and that the company would instead look for a private placement of $500 million in February.
Kenya has scrapped a $2 billion procurement project that would have given Adani control of the country's main airport and shelved a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership. In the wake of the allegations, bankers said on Thursday that banks are also reviewing their exposure to the group and whether they need to tighten due diligence.
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Business NewsCompaniesNewsAdani CFO refutes US allegations: ‘Individuals accused in bribery case to clarify matter in 10 days’
First Published:29 Nov 2024, 07:41 PM IST
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