Law ministry asks Gujarat court to serve Adani in U.S. SEC suit

Ministry of Law and Justice serves Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani in U.S. lawsuit under Hague Convention.

The Ministry of Law and Justice took action under the Hague convention last month to serve Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani in a U.S. lawsuit, the Union government confirmed to The Hindu. The Department of Legal Affairs (DLA) under the law ministry forwarded a summons notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the SEC v. Adani case to a sessions court in Ahmedabad, asking it to serve Mr. Adani the relevant papers at his Ahmedabad address. 

Also Read | Gautam Adani U.S. indictment: How are summons issued under the Hague Convention?

“Under consideration is a request for service of summons received from the Central Authority USA, under the Hague Convention for Service of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters, 1965,” the government said in an internal note provided to The Hindu. “The documents have been checked and found to be in consonance with the Hague Convention. We may, if approved, forward the documents to the District & Sessions Court, Ahmedabad, Gujarat for effecting service upon the respondent.” 

The letter to the sessions court is dated February 25. The Hague convention allows signatory countries to directly request an agency in each other’s countries for assistance in serving legal papers on their residence for cases filed abroad.

In conjunction with federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, the SEC sued Mr. Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, in their capacities as executives of Adani Green Ltd, for allegedly concealing from American investors “the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to secure their commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani green and Azure Power,” a solar energy plant operator. The case is ongoing at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The DLA declined to confirm that it had received and forwarded the summons request in an earlier response to a Right to Information application by The Hindu. That application was filed on February 19, and the response was sent on March 3. However, the DLA said in its response, which was sent a week after it had already forwarded the summons to the Gujarat court, that it had not received any such request — but only as of February 21. 

While the lawsuit led to considerable uncertainty for the Adani Group, the firm is reportedly acting on hope that the new administration in the US under President Donald Trump — which has paused all enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 1977 — would lead to less movement in the legal matters against Mr. Adani in that country. The Financial Times reported recently that the Adani Group has resumed scouting for business opportunities in the US.