A US federal court has declined to immediately allow the Department of Justice (DoJ) to drop all criminal charges against industrialist Gautam Adani and others in the alleged USD 250 million bribery case stating that the explanation provided by the government in this regard was “terse, bland, and conclusory.”
The verdict was pronounced by Judge Nicholas G Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The court directed the DoJ to provide explanation for its decision to seek dismissal of the indictment against all the eight accused in the case.
Court seeks explanation
“Here, the Government’s terse, bland, and conclusory statement affords the court neither a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion, nor the opportunity to conduct any analysis of the Government’s request for dismissal,” stated the judge as quoted by the Bar and Bench.
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The judge pointed out that as per Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure the government is required to provide the basis for a motion to dismiss.
“Thus, the Government has failed to meet its obligation to supply adequate reasoning and sufficient facts to support dismissal of the Indictment. And, without this additional information, the court cannot fulfill its own obligation to exercise “sound judicial discretion in considering (the Government’s) request for dismissal,” he added.
July 13 deadline
The Court directed the DoJ to submit its explanation by July 13, 2026.
The direction came after the US government sought dismissal of the indictment under Rule 48(a). In its motion dated May 18, the DoJ stated that, after reviewing the matter, it had decided against committing further prosecutorial resources to pursuing the criminal case against the individual defendants.
Bribery allegations
The criminal proceedings stemmed from allegations linked to a 12-gigawatt solar power project. The indictment alleged that the Solar Energy Corporation of India required state electricity distribution companies to execute power supply agreements to make the project and related purchase agreements commercially viable.
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According to the indictment, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vneet Jaain, Ranjit Gupta and others allegedly conspired to pay bribes to state government officials to facilitate the project. It alleged that bribes amounting to Rs 2,029 crore (about USD265 million) were promised, including Rs 1,750 crore earmarked for officials in Andhra Pradesh to secure procurement of 7 gigawatts of solar power.
Charges denied
The indictment further alleged that Adani entities raised more than USD 3 billion from US investors without disclosing the alleged bribery scheme. The defendants faced charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The Adani Group has denied the allegations as baseless.
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