Adani Enterprises says facing US probe over alleged Iran-linked LPG trade

Mumbai: Adani Enterprises Ltd said on Tuesday that a US agency is investigating the company’s transactions to see if it traded in Iranian petroleum products that were under American sanctions, making it the third parallel US probe into the ports-to-power conglomerate.

The Adani Group flagship firm said in a regulatory disclosure that it made a voluntary outreach to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) after The Wall Street Journal reported on 2 June 2025 that US prosecutors were investigating whether it imported Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The company did not disclose when it made this outreach.

Following its voluntary engagement with the OFAC, the US agency on 3 February made a request for information (RFI) to Adani Enterprises through its counsel, the company said in its exchange filing.

“In the RFI, OFAC has also indicated that it is conducting a civil investigation of the Company’s transactions processed through US financial institutions that may have involved, directly or indirectly, Iran or interests of persons subject to US sanctions against Iran,” Adani Enterprises said.

“The Company is voluntarily engaging and fully cooperating with OFAC and will supply the requested information,” the company further said.

The OFAC is a US Department of the Treasury agency that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions.

This opens a third investigation into the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate by US prosecutors. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have filed a criminal suit and a civil suit, respectively, against billionaire promoter Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, alleging that they paid bribes to unnamed government officials in India and did not disclose it to US investors while raising capital.

The Adani Group did not respond to Mint’s queries pertaining to the timing of its voluntary outreach to the OFAC. The OFAC did not comment, either.

Stock of Adani Enterprises settled 1% lower at ₹2,227.55 on the BSE on Tuesday, compared to a 0.25% gain in the benchmark Sensex. The company made the disclosure during market hours.

The WSJ had reported last June that it conducted an investigation into a group of LPG tankers travelling between Adani’s Mundra port in Gujarat and the Persian Gulf. It said that these vessels exhibited behaviour that was typical of vessels trying to obscure their activities. For instance, a tanker’s tracking data showed that it was at the Khor al Zubair port in southern Iraq on 3 April 2024, but satellite images from the day did not show the ship being present there. Instead, a similar-looking ship was present the same day at an LPG terminal in Tonbuk, Iran.

This ship eventually unloaded LPG at the Mundra port, the WSJ reported.

The Adani Group had denied these allegations back then. It said that it did not engage in any trade with any entity facing US sanctions.

Further, LPG trade was a relatively small part of its overall business, accounting for just 1.5% of Adani Enterprises’ FY25 revenue of just over ₹1 trillion, the company said.

Further, “out of abundant caution” and “as part of its cooperation efforts,” Adani Enterprises has stopped all LPG imports since 2 June last year, when the WSJ report was published.