Gautam Adani, the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, has been indicted in New York, charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes as part of a massive fraud scheme.

Adani, who commands a personal fortune of $69.8 billion (€65.3 billion) according to Forbes magazine, is one of the world's richest people.

He allegedly agreed to bribe Indian officials to the tune of about $265 million in return for lucrative solar energy contracts.

The news caused shares in his companies to tumble, with Adani Energy Solutions dropping by some 20%.

What does the indictment say?

"This indictment alleges schemes to pay … bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller.

The contracts in question were expected to yield profits of over €2 billion over the next 20 years for Adani and seven fellow defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani.

"Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses ... while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government's investigation," said the FBI's James Dennehy.

According to the indictment, some conspirators would use the codenames "Numero uno" and "the big man" to refer to Adani in private. Nephew Sagar allegedly logged specific details of bribes on his phone.

In reaction to the indictment, Adani Group said on Thursday that it was fully compliant with all laws and that it was committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance.

The conglomerate denied the allegations made against the directors of the Adani Green Energy firm, describing them as "baseless." It vowed to seek all possible legal recourse in the case.

The defendants' lawyers and the Indian Embassy in Washington are yet to comment on the indictment.

None of the defendants in the case, including Adani, are currently in custody, but a judge has issued arrest warrants that prosecutors plan to pass on to foreign law enforcement.

Who is Gautam Adani?

Adani was born in Ahmedabad, in India's western Gujarat state, to a middle-class family. At the age of 16, he dropped out of school and moved to the financial capital of Mumbai to seek work in the city's lucrative gem trade.

He launched the family business which bears his name in 1988 when he branched out into the export trade. Seven years later, he landed a major contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat.

A self-described introvert, Adani rarely speaks to the media and keeps a low public profile.

He is known, however, to be a keen supporter of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also recently took to X, formerly Twitter, to congratulate US President-elect Donald Trump on his election win.

With Trump promising to make it easier for energy companies to drill and build new pipelines, Adani last week announced plans to invest $10 billion into energy security and infrastructure projects in the United States, potentially creating up to 15,000 jobs.

mf/nm (AFP, Reuters)