India’s Adani Group on Thursday denied allegations of bribery and fraud made by U.S. authorities in relation to the group’s chair Gautam Adani, saying all such claims have been “baseless.”

Shares of firms in India’s Adani Group plunged after Gautam Adani, one of many world’s richest individuals, was indicted in a New York federal court docket on prices relating to an alleged bribery and fraud scheme. Shares in Adani Inexperienced Vitality, the agency on the heart of the allegations, slumped 17.9%.

Adani and several other different defendants are accused of paying Indian authorities officers greater than $250 million in bribes to acquire photo voltaic power provide contracts price greater than $2 billion in income.

The corporate’s 62-year-old chair, his nephew Sagar Adani and fellow firm government Vneet Jaain are charged with deceptive U.S. and worldwide buyers about their firm’s compliance with antibribery and anticorruption practices, as they raised greater than $three billion in capital to fund power contracts.

An Adani Group spokesperson mentioned the allegations made by the U.S. Division of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee towards administrators of Adani Inexperienced Vitality are “baseless and denied.”

“The Adani Group has all the time upheld and is steadfastly dedicated to sustaining the very best requirements of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance throughout all jurisdictions of its operations. We guarantee our stakeholders, companions and workers that we’re a law-abiding organisation, absolutely compliant with all legal guidelines,” the spokesperson mentioned in an emailed assertion.

They added that “all attainable authorized recourse will probably be sought,” following the allegations.

Shares of Adani investor GQG Companions additionally cratered round 20% on Thursday.

A typical query from buyers following the costs is how uncovered Indian lenders are to Adani Inexperienced Vitality, Citi analysts mentioned in a Thursday observe.

The power firm has borrowings of 630 billion Indian rupees and cumulative prices on property are equal to 650 billion Indian rupees, Citi mentioned, noting that lender-specific knowledge might not be very correct on the subject of fund-based publicity.

Following the indictment prices, Adani Inexperienced Vitality cancelled plans to lift round $600 million by U.S. dollar-denominated bonds.

– World Head News’s Boon Ping and Dan Mangan contributed to this story.