New Delhi: Amid the indictment of industrialist Gautam Adani and his businesses in the United States over bribery charges against Adani Green Energy Ltd, several other companies with bases and operations in India have turned up on the list. These US firms which have been accused of bribing officials in India and other countries, have settled the cases by paying more than 300% penalty to avoid prosecution, according to a report first published by The Pioneer,
Just a few weeks before moving against the Adani Group, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Moog Inc — a New York-based global manufacturer of motion controls systems for aerospace, defense, industrial and medical markets — was caught bribing more than half a million to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
In an order dated October 11, 2024, the SEC said that employees of Moog Motion Controls Private Limited, a subsidiary of Moog Inc, bribed Indian officials to win businesses.
“Between 2020 and 2022, employees of the subsidiary bribed a variety of Indian foreign officials to win business. These same employees also offered bribes to Indian foreign officials in an attempt to cause public tenders in India to favor Moog’s products and exclude competitors,” it stated.
The SEC’s order found that Moog violated the recordkeeping and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA.
Also read: Contract Cancellations, Probes, Investment Suspensions: The Global Fallout of the Adani Indictment
“A variety of schemes were used to funnel the improper payments, including through third-party agents and distributors. The improper payments were falsely recorded as legitimate business expenses in Moog’s books and records, and the conduct went undetected as a result of deficient internal accounting controls. As a result, Moog was unjustly enriched by approximately $504,926,” it stated.
The firm agreed to “cease and desist from committing or causing any future violations” and agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling nearly $600,000 salong with a civil penalty of $1.1 million, a press release stated.
In another case, IT giant Oracle Corporation was also caught for bribery of more than $ 6.8 million in Indian Railways, UAE and Turkey, as reported by The Pioneer. It settled the case by paying a penalty of $23 million to the US treasury.
A third case refers to Albemarle Corporation, a major chemical supplier with businesses with around 700 refineries in the world, including with Indian Oil. According to the SEC, Albemarle bagged several contracts in Indian Oil Corporation and companies in Indonesia and Vietnam by corrupt practices and bribery of more than 63.5 million dollars.
“Albemarle paid approximately $1.14 Million in commission to India intermediary company relating to Indian Oil Corporation business and obtained approximately $11.14 million in profits on that business between approximately 2009 and 2011,” according to an order dated September 28, 2023.
The company was caught for bribery by the US authorities in 2017 and then settled the case in September 2023 by paying a hefty fine of more than $198 million to avoid prosecution.
Also read: SECI’s Silence Conspicuous Amid Din of Adani Bribery Allegations
Gautam Adani’s indictment
The Adani Group’s indictment refers to the allegations regarding the processes followed by executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power Global Ltd, a renewable energy firm headquartered in New Delhi, resulting in a $265 million bribery scheme.
The indictment accuses Gautam Adani himself, his nephew Sagar Adani, and Adani Green managing director Vneet Jaain, of orchestrating a scheme to bribe Indian officials for power contracts and mislead US investors.
It has been alleged that the company bribed Indian government officials to secure lucrative solar power contracts. The scandal caught the attention of US authorities when the Adani Group was raising funds from US-based investors in 2021.
Responding to the US SEC allegations, the Adani Group chairman, at an event in Jaipur, said, “Less than two weeks back, we faced a set of allegations from the US about compliance practices at Adani Green Energy. This is not the first time we have faced such challenges.”
While the Adani Group clarified that the charges were baseless, the political fallout of it in India has been intense.
Opposition parties in India have raised the issue in parliament and demanded a probe into allegations of wrongdoing.