Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined to say if he discussed billionaire Gautam Adani’s legal challenges in the US during his meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
“Firstly, India is a democratic country, and our culture and our thought philosophy is, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,’ which basically means that the entire world is a family,” Modi said in a translated response at a joint news conference with Trump on Thursday that highlighted ties between the two nations. “Every Indian is my own family member. And when it comes to such personal matters, two leaders of two countries will not get together on the topic and discuss anything on an individual matter.”
The American president made no mention of the case.
US prosecutors have charged Adani, Asia’s second-richest man, of allegedly helping arrange bribes of more than $250 million to officials in India and defraud US investors. In a five-count indictment unsealed on Nov. 20, prosecutors alleged that Adani was part of a scheme to “corruptly offer, authorize, promise to pay and to pay bribes” of hundreds of millions of dollars to government officials in India. The Adani Group has denied the allegations.
To get Adani — India’s most powerful businessman and a close ally of Modi — to appear in an American courtroom, the US would likely have to pursue extradition.
In the months since the US brought the criminal as well as civil charges against Adani, court dockets have gone quiet. Adani has been building a political influence operation in the US spanning white shoe law firms and lobbyists, looking to simultaneously deal with the legal cases and expand his business, according to people with knowledge of the effort.
