A US judge dismissed bribery and fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday after the Trump administration moved to drop the case.

Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was charged in 2024 with participating in a US$265mn scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. 

His associates were also charged with attempting to obstruct the US investigations by destroying evidence. Adani has denied wrongdoing.

Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis, who criticised the US Justice Department’s handling of the decision, said the decision to dismiss the 2024 charges was unusual and raised concerns because prosecutors and investigators, including FBI and SEC agents involved in the case, were not consulted.

According to media reports Adani’s attorney Robert Giuffra, who is also Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, told Justice Department officials in April that if charges were dropped, the billionaire would invest US$10bn in the United States.

Garaufis said he believed that Adani’s reported pledge to invest in the US did not influence the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case.

In May, court documents showed that Gautam Adani agreed to pay civil penalties of US$6mn, while his nephew Sagar Adani, another leader at Adani Green Energy, agreed to pay US$12mn in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The proposed settlement doesn’t include an admission of guilt.

Adani welcomed the ruling, saying his faith in ‘truth, fairness and the rule of law’ remained unwavering.

DW