Photo: AFP file

Gautam and Sagar Adani were aware that their renewable energy company was under investigation by US authorities for suspected bribery when they sold a portion of India's largest solar park to France's TotalEnergies, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters. TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday regarding whether it was aware of the Adanis' investigation by US authorities over an alleged bribery and fraud scheme at the time of the Khavda solar stake acquisition.

US prosecutors on Thursday charged eight individuals, including Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and the former CEO of Adani Green Energy Limited, with promising and making improper payments to Indian officials between July 2021 and 2024 to ensure the success of the solar project. In September 2024, TotalEnergies paid $444 million into a joint venture with Adani Green Energy for a 50% stake in 1.15 gigawatts of solar installations at the Khavda solar park, which is at the center of the bribery charges.

The French oil and gas company is not named in the criminal case. The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless and did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on this story. According to the US indictment, FBI special agents served Adani Green Energy Executive Director Sagar Adani with a search warrant and grand jury subpoena in March 2023, more than a year before the sale to TotalEnergies. These documents identified Adani Green Energy, its former CEO Vneet Jaain, and chairman Gautam Adani as subjects of an investigation for alleged bribery to gain business advantages.

TotalEnergies acquired a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy in January 2021, shortly after the Indian company secured what was then the world's largest solar order, and just months before the alleged payments to officials began. Sangkaran Ratnam, TotalEnergies' country chair for India and the French firm's nominee to the board of directors of Adani Green Energy, did not respond to a request for comment on whether he was aware of the investigation at the time TotalEnergies purchased the stake in the Khavda assets.

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