Adani case raises issue of extraterritorial application of American laws: Attorney

Gautam Adani faces $265 million bribery charges in the US, raising questions about extraterritorial application of American laws.

The $265 million bribery charge in the US against Gautam Adani raises the issue of extraterritorial application of American laws since the Indian tycoon and others involved in the case do not live here, an Indian-American attorney has said.

“While our domestic laws remain the same, a preliminary issue arises about extraterritoriality application of U.S. laws,” prominent attorney Ravi Batra told PTI.

The US authorities have indicted Gautam Adani and seven others including his nephew Sagar Adani, for being part of an alleged $265 million bribery scheme.

Mr. Batra noted that as U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts ruled long ago, extraterritoriality is disfavoured in the comity of nations and hence comes with a presumption against it, “no matter if its our criminal or civil laws that appear violated. Anything else would lead to chaos in the rule of law.” Mr. Batra added that if the complaint of conduct is “of and concerning the United States,” then it is proper to prosecute criminal charges and civil claims.

“As to the civil case by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), like any other civil plaintiff, it must first serve its summons and complaint upon the defendants, and then they will have adequate time to answer the complaint, or if they prefer, move to dismiss the complaint or charges based upon the presumption against extraterritoriality or irrefutable proof that the complaint does not plead a plausible case,” Mr. Batra said.

Last week, a five-count criminal indictment was issued in federal court in Brooklyn charging Gautam, Sagar and Vneet Jaain, executives of an Indian renewable-energy company with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme.

This was done to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.