New Delhi: Indian billionaire businessmen Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have agreed to a proposed USD 18 million penalty to settle the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allegations linked to Adani Green Energy Ltd of having paid or promised bribes to Indian officials. However, they have neither admitted nor denied the allegations.According to a Bar and Bench report, Gautam Adani has consented to a proposed USD 6 million penalty, whereas his nephew agreed to USD 12 million, under the proposed agreement filed in federal court on Thursday, although it still needs a judge’s approval. The proposed judgments also state that the penalty amounts would be sent to the United States Treasury, and that no part of the funds will be returned to the defendants. The Adanis can also neither seek nor accept reimbursement or indemnification from any source for the civil penalty amounts. They can also not claim tax deductions or tax credits for the penalty payments.Although these penalties will absolve the Adanis only of civil consequences, Economic Times reported that the move could also clear the decks for the conglomerate to return to international capital markets and resume its aggressive expansion strategy.Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is also reportedly preparing to drop fraud and bribery charges against billionaire Gautam Adani after his legal team, led by US lawyer Robert Giuffra Jr., recently met Justice Department officials in Washington and presented arguments that prosecutors lacked evidence and jurisdiction to proceed with the case.Reacting to the development, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of signing a trade deal with the US only to secure the “release” of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani.“Compromised PM did not strike a trade deal, but a bargain for Adani’s release,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.According to the SEC’s complaint filed on November 21, 2024, the agency had charged the duo, along with executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd., and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global Ltd., for conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme orchestrated to enable the two renewable energy companies to capitalise on a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project that the companies had been awarded by the Indian government. During the alleged scheme, Adani Green allegedly raised more than USD 175 million from US investors, and Azure Power’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.The Adani Group has denied all allegations. Gautam and Sagar Adani also moved a federal court in Brooklyn asking the SEC case to be dismissed.The SEC had also been facing difficulties serving legal summons to Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani. In January this year, the SEC moved a federal court to bypass the treaty-based route through the Hague Convention and allow service on Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani via their US counsel and email after the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice objected and effectively blocked its 14-month effort to issue summonses regarding the allegations.