French oil major TotalEnergies has halted investments in the Adani Group after the Indian ports-to-power conglomerate was engulfed in a crisis over an alleged multimillion-dollar bribery scheme.
The move, announced Monday, is the first major fallout from United States authorities’ decision to charge Adani’s billionaire chairman and founder Gautam Adani – one of the world’s richest people – and seven other people with agreeing to pay approximately $265m in bribes to Indian government officials.
TotalEnergies, whose financial exposure to Adani firms is estimated at between $4bn and $5bn by analysts at Bernstein Research, said it had not been made aware of the investigation into the alleged corruption scheme.
While TotalEnergies’s plans for future investment in Adani Group firms were unknown, the announcement of a pause adds to the criticism the $143bn Indian conglomerate is facing about disclosure standards, which may lead to closer scrutiny by other investors.
“Until such time when the accusations against the Adani group individuals and their consequences have been clarified, TotalEnergies will not make any new financial contribution as part of its investments in the Adani group of companies,” the French company said.
TotalEnergies, which has a 20 percent stake and a seat on the board of the company at the centre of the case, Adani Green Energy Ltd, said it rejects corruption in any form.
The US prosecutors’ bribery charges related to alleged payments to obtain contracts that could yield $2bn of profit over 20 years. The charges also included making misleading statements to the public despite being made aware of the US investigation in 2023.
The Adani Group has said the accusations as well as those levelled by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case are baseless and that it will seek “all possible legal recourse”.
Adani did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TotalEnergies’s statement.
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