The US Department of Justice indicated on Saturday that it wanted to drop charges against billionaire businessman Gautam Adani. A sharply-worded filing argued that the previous administration led by President Joe Biden had started a baseless case with little chance of success. The DOJ added that the case was primarily foreign, hard to prove and inconsistent with its current priorities.
“The indictment was unsealed in the final days of the prior Administration, apparently as a ‘name and shame’ designed to levy accusations without any realistic prospect of a trial ever occurring…The alleged ‘payments’ in this case were made by Indian nationals, working for Indian companies, to the Indian government, with no U.S. interests implicated in any way ,” Reuters quoted the court filing as saying.
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis had ordered prosecutors to explain last month why the Department was seeking to permanently dismiss the indictment. Adani was accused under the Biden-era case in 2024 and charged with securities fraud and wire fraud related to an alleged bribery scheme. The Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing and the Indian businessman has not appeared in US court to respond to the charges.
The DOJ insisted on Saturday that requiring prosecutors to publicly justify decisions to drop cases would discourage future dismissals, expose privileged internal deliberations and infringe on the executive branch’s constitutional authority over charging decisions.
What is the case?
Adani and several others were charged in 2024 for allegedly agreeing to bribe Indian government officials to the tune of $250 million. The DOJ also accused them of involvement in a scheme to lie to investors to receive billions more in investments from other entities. The company has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The Justice Department also claimed that Adani Green Energy Ltd raised at least $175 million from US investors during the alleged scheme. The alleged aim of the scheme was to ensure that Adani Group would win approval to develop a solar energy plant, and then misleading American investors by providing reassuring information about his company’s anti-corruption practices.
‘Foreign, hard to prove case’
The Justice Department said on Saturday that US government attorneys should not prosecute such a “foreign case” that involves no criminal organisations or American companies, and does not affect national security.
The department cited six overarching reasons for dropping all charges, including that the alleged conduct was overwhelmingly centred in India, Indian authorities had investigated the allegations and found no actionable misconduct, investors suffered no financial losses, key evidence and witnesses were located abroad, the defendants were unlikely to ever appear before a US court, and the prosecution faced significant evidentiary hurdles.
Legal experts cited by Reuters said US judges have little discretion to compel prosecutors to continue with criminal cases they no longer wish to pursue, but the charges remain officially pending until Garaufis orders them dismissed.