Adani Group stocks rallied up to 4% on Tuesday after reports that few US Congressmen have written to the newly appointed Attorney General of the United States demanding a probe into the previous Department of Justice’s (DoJ) indictment of Adani Group officials
Adani Enterprises share price and Adani Power share price jumped more than 4% each, while Adani Green Energy shares and Adani Energy Solutions stock spiked over 3% each. Adani Ports shares and Adani Total Gas share price also gained over 1% each.
The rally in Adani Group stocks on February 11 comes despite a fall in Indian stock market.
US Congressmen against Adani’s indictment
What spiked the rally in Adani group stocks today was a report that said as many as six US Congressmen wrote to the newly appointed Attorney General of the United States against “questionable” decisions made by the previous US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) indictment against the Adani Group in an alleged bribery scam.
Lance Gooden, Pat Fallon, Mike Haridopolos, Brandon Gill, William R Timmmons and Brian Babin on February 10 wrote to Pamela Bondi, Attorney General of the US drawing “attention to some questionable decisions made by the DOJ under the Biden administration”, PTI reported.
US prosecutors had charged billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over $250 million (about ₹2,100 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts. The Adani Group had, in November last year, rejected the move by the DoJ under the Biden administration as baseless.
“Some of these decisions involved selectively pursuing and abandoning cases, often acting against America’s interests at home and abroad, jeopardizing relationships with close allies like India,” the Congressmen said in the joint letter.
India, they said, has been an important ally of the United States for decades. This relationship has flourished beyond politics, trade, and economics by evolving into a continuous socio-cultural exchange between the world’s two largest democracies, the PTI report added.
“This historical partnership and continuous dialogue between friends, however, was put at risk due to some unwise decisions by the Biden administration,” the letter said.
“One such decision involves a questionable pursuit of a case against the Adani group, an Indian company whose executives are situated in India. This case rests on the allegation that preparations were made by members of this company in India to bribe Indian officials, also exclusively located in India.
“Instead of deferring the case to the appropriate Indian authorities, the Biden DOJ decided to push forward and indict the company’s executives without any real injury to US interests being present,” they wrote.
The Congressmen said there was no compelling reason to pursue a case in a manner that could complicate relations with an ally like India unless some external factors were at play.
“This misguided crusade came at the risk of harming our relationship with a strategic geopolitical partner like India immediately preceding President Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
“Considering President Trump’s commitment to revive America’s economic prosperity, our economic relationship with valuable partners from India and abroad works as an important factor in achieving that goal,” they said.
