France’s Total to not make any new investments in Adani Group until bribery charges cleared

New Delhi: French energy major TotalEnergies SE said on Monday that it will not make any new investments into Adani Group of companies unless bribery charges levelled against the group and its executives are cleared. “Until such time when the accusations against the Adani group individuals and their consequences have been clarified, TotalEnergies will not make any new financial contribution as part of its investments in the Adani group of companies,” said the energy giant in a statement. The decision comes days after the Unite States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted Gautam Adani and his associates for their alleged role in a USD 265-million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power sale contracts for its manufacturing-linked solar power projects.

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“TotalEnergies has learnt through public announcements made by the US authorities of the indictment of certain individual Adani group executives in relation to an alleged corruption scheme linked to the business of Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL). This indictment does not target AGEL itself, nor any AGEL related companies. In accordance with its code of conduct, TotalEnergies rejects corruption in any form,” said the company in a statement.

Adani bribery case: TotalEnergies to take ‘relevant action to protect its interests’

“TotalEnergies, which is not targeted nor involved in the facts described by such indictment, will take all relevant actions to protect its interests as minority (19.75 percent) shareholder of AGEL and as a joint-venture partner (50 percent) in project companies with AGEL,” said the statement. TotalEnergies is one of the biggest foreign investors in Adani Group with stakes in Adani Green Energy Ltd (AEGL) and city gas subsidiary Adani Total Gas Ltd (ATGL).

“TotalEnergies recalls that its investments in Adani’s entities were undertaken in full compliance with applicable laws, and with TotalEnergies’ own internal governance processes pursuant to due diligence and representations made by the sellers. In particular, TotalEnergies was not made aware of the existence of an investigation into the alleged corruption scheme,” said the company in its statement.

Setbacks for Adani Group

The announcement constitutes a fresh setback for the Adani Group of companies after Kenya cancelled the procurement process that had been expected to award control of the country’s main airport to Adani Group in a deal that was expected to be worth USD 2-billion. Under the proposed deal, the Adani Group was supposed to add a second runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease.

A crisis around Adani Group of companies started brewing in January 2023 when a US short-seller, Hindenburg Research, accused the group of engaging in extensive accounting fraud, stock price manipulation, and exploiting tax havens. In the aftermath, TotalEnergies, that had in June 2022 announced its decision to pick up a 25 percent stake in Adani Group’s USD-50-billion hydrogen project, held off its planned investment.

The Hindenburg report had then resulted in the erosion of USD 150 billion in market value for Adani Group of companies. At the time, Adani Group had vehemently denied the allegations, calling them malicious and an “attack on India.” The report had also been used by the Opposition to attack the Modi government, with the former linking Gautam Adani’s rise to his ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adani Group companies had recovered most of the losses that they suffered at the time due to the Hindenburg report before the last week’s indictment in a New York Court.

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