US Regulator Seeks to Bypass Indian Govt to Serve Adani Summons

NEW DELHI: The US Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a US court for permission to personally email summons to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani over alleged fraud and a $265 million bribery scheme, filings show.India, the SEC said, has previously refused two requests to serve the summons. In the most high-profile legal case in the U.S. involving an Indian conglomerate, the SEC has been trying to send summons to Adani group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar since last year.Adani group has called the allegations “baseless” and said that it would seek “all possible legal recourse” to defend itself. It did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the latest SEC filing, dated January 21. In the response to the New York court, the US markets regulator said it “does not expect service to be completed” through the current route and should be allowed to directly email the summons to the Adani group executives. India’s law ministry also did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request seeking comment on the latest filing. It has previously described the issue as a legal issue between private firms and the United States.The two rejections by India to serve the summons, the SEC filing said, were based on procedural reasons, such as signature and seal requirements, none of which it said is needed in summons sent to individuals in another country under the international treaties of the Hague Convention. In its second rejection in December last year, the court filing added that India’s law ministry appeared to raise doubts about the SEC’s authority to request service of summons.Reuters