An Azure Power employee filed a corruption complaint under company policy in May 2022. This complaint made serious allegations against some former officials of Adani Group and Azure Power. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI have filed documents with the court regarding these allegations.
Adani Group has rejected these allegations and said they are “baseless” and that they will take legal action. At the same time, Azure Power admitted that some employees at one of its project sites were manipulating data and committing payment irregularities, but denied allegations of bribery. Along with Adani Group, former Azure executives have also been named in court documents released by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI.
The Adani Group side
Adani Group called these allegations “baseless” and said they will take “all legal options.” Azure Power admitted in its 6-K filing (which is filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) that it had received complaints of “erroneous payments and false statements” related to a project.
Azure acknowledged that some employees altered project data and that payment irregularities occurred. However, he denied the bribery allegations and said the investigation found no evidence of improper payment to any government official.
Second complaint and investigation
In September 2022, Azure received another complaint from a whistleblower alleging irregularities in joint ventures and land acquisition. In this case, no concrete evidence was found after the investigation. In a March 2024 report, Azure said that “third-party land aggregators” may have made erroneous payments, but Azure Group made no such payments.
blue architecture
Azure Power Global Limited, which was registered in Mauritius, owns 64 subsidiaries and affiliated companies in the US, Mauritius, Singapore and India. Some of these companies are Azure Power Rajasthan Pvt. Limited. Ltd., Azure Power Punjab Pvt. Limited. Limited. They are known by those names. While some names like Azure Power Mars Pvt. Limited. Ltd., Azure Power Jupiter Pvt. Limited. Limited. Just as it is placed.
Delisting from the New York Stock Exchange
In November 2022, Azure shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) because the company failed to timely file required reports with the SEC. In April 2024, Azure announced that its US reporting requirements had been removed following delisting.
This case is not limited to Adani Group and Azure, but shows how internal complaints and investigations in large business groups can put companies at legal and reputational risk.
Story: Anurag Kumar from New Delhi