Washington (United States) (AFP) – One of Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani’s companies will pay the United States $275 million to settle a probe into whether it violated Washington’s sanctions against Iran, the US Treasury said Monday. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the agreement had been reached with Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), part of the magnate’s sprawling multinational conglomerate of companies.
“AEL agreed to settle its potential civil liability for 32 apparent violations of OFAC’s Iran sanctions,” the Treasury said, pointing to AEL’s purchases of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) between November 2023 and June 2025. The announcement came days after Adani agreed to pay a separate $18 million settlement in a US civil court case linked to corruption, without admitting guilt, according to one of his other companies. In that case, Adani was accused of participating in an estimated $250 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
Monday’s settlement announcement said AEL had cooperated with OFAC’s probe and agreed to additional nonmonetary remedial measures to strengthen compliance with US sanctions. The probe focused on LPG imports arranged through a Dubai-based supplier that claimed to be exporting Omani and Iraqi gas, OFAC said. “Red flags should have put AEL on notice that the LPG actually originated from Iran,” the statement said.
Adani Enterprises confirmed the settlement in a stock exchange filing made on Monday, saying the agreement was executed on May 14. Also on Monday, US prosecutors asked a federal judge to drop bribery-related criminal charges against Adani. The New York Times has reported that Adani’s lawyer told Justice Department officials in April that if charges were dropped, the magnate would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy. Prosecutors did not mention that apparent offer in their brief court filing, which simply said they had decided “not to devote further resources” to the case.
The Adani Group is one of India’s largest business empires, operating businesses ranging from ports and power plants to cement factories and media houses. Adani, one of India’s richest men, has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash. Adani is a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hails from the leader’s home state of Gujarat. India is the world’s second-largest buyer of LPG, and the fourth-largest buyer of liquefied natural gas, much of which is sourced through the Middle East.
© 2024 AFP
