PARIS (Reuters) – Gautam and Sagar Adani knew their renewable energy company was under U.S. investigation for alleged corruption when they sold part of India’s largest solar farm to TotalEnergies, say New York prosecutors in legal documents reviewed by Reuters.

Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani, was indicted in the United States on Thursday along with seven others for setting up an alleged scheme to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and falsifying financial statements , New York prosecutors said Wednesday.

TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday about whether the group knew Adani was under investigation when it bought the stake in the Khavda solar farm.

In September 2024, TotalEnergies paid $444 million (€426.92 million) to a joint venture formed with Adani Green Energy for a 50% stake in 1.15 gigawatts of solar installations in the Khavda Solar Park, the project at the heart of corruption accusations.

The French oil and gas company is not named in the criminal case. The Adani Group has denounced the allegations as baseless. The group did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment for this article.

According to the US indictment, FBI special agents issued Adani Green Energy executive director Sagar Adani with a search warrant and summons to appear before a grand jury in March 2023, more than a year before the sale to TotalEnergies.

These documents identified Adani Green Energy, its former managing director Vneet Jaain and its chairman Gautam Adani as being investigated for alleged corruption to obtain commercial advantages for the company.

(Reporting America Hernandez in Paris, Elena Smirnova, editing by Augustin Turpin)

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