Adani charged in US for alleged bribery, fraud

Indian opposition parties yesterday demanded a probe into allegations of wrongdoing by the Adani Group and said they would raise the issue in parliament after its chair Gautam Adani was charged in the US over an alleged bribery scheme.

Billionaire Adani was indicted by US prosecutors for his alleged role in a $265 million bribery and fraud scheme and arrest warrants were issued for him and his nephew, plunging his conglomerate deep into crisis for the second time in two years.

The Adani Group rejected the allegations as baseless and said it complied fully with all laws.

Adani has been the target of Indian opposition parties who say that he and his conglomerate have been protected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, charges both deny.

"We are raising this issue, it is my responsibility to raise this issue as leader of opposition," Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, told reporters when asked if he would bring it up in parliament next week.

Gandhi has led the opposition attack against Modi for what he says are Modi's links to Adani since US short-seller Hindenburg Research issued a report last year accusing the Adani group of using offshore tax havens improperly - which the company has denied.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called for a comprehensive parliamentary probe into "every aspect of the working of the Adani Group".

Sanjay Singh, a lawmaker from the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, said the indictment was a serious matter.

However, Amit Malviya, a leader of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and its IT cell head, said Congress should not get "needlessly excited".

"The timing of the report, just before the parliament session and Donal(d) Trump's impending presidency raises several questions," he said, without elaborating.

There was no immediate response to the indictment from the Indian government.

Shares in Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate's main listed unit, plunged 23.4 percent on the Mumbai bourse during a day of frenzied sell-offs that triggered multiple trading halts.