After a bribery scandal centered on industrialist Gautam Adani, US prosecutors blamed him for bribery and securities fraud, alleging massive payments to Indian government officials. At the heart of the case lies an anonymous Andhra Pradesh official who has been termed “Foreign Official #1”, and allegedly received a huge percentage of the bribes. The individual defined as a high-ranking Andhra Pradesh government official between 2019 and 2024 has generated wide speculation.
According to the indictment, the Adani Group made bribes amounting to Rs 2,029 crore, or USD 265 million, to win solar power contracts. Of this, Rs 1,750 crore were allegedly routed to “Foreign Official #1”. The alleged payments were reportedly made to grease and facilitate agreements on the sale of solar energy between the Adani Group and the Discoms of Andhra Pradesh.
The name remains disclosed…
The case touches on events from 2021, during which the Jagan Mohan Reddy administration was in Andhra Pradesh. Prosecutors claim that Adani personally met “Foreign Official #1” on multiple occasions in 2021 to finalize deals, mainly on August 7, September 12, and November 20. These meetings allegedly paved the way for Andhra Pradesh power companies to get 7 gigawatts of solar energy: the largest such deal by any state at the time.
The indictment further claims that the bribes were necessary to convince Discoms of Andhra Pradesh to sign a power sale agreement with the government-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India, also known as SECI. SECI, as claimed, had struggled to find buyers for its 12-gigawatt solar power projects. It would have put the contracts awarded to Adani Group.
Foreign Official #1 played the most important role in infamous bribery case
In addition to Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir also entered into solar agreements with SECI between 2021 and 2022. Still, “Foreign Official #1” in Andhra Pradesh is at the center of the controversy due to prosecutors’ indictments that he played the most important role in clinching the deals.
The Adani Group had reacted to the charges by rejecting them as groundless. They have also promised to take legal action to prove their chastity. The role of “Foreign Official #1” persists to provoke much interest over the extent of involvement in the bribery scheme.