New Delhi: A US federal judge has ordered billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani to file an affidavit stating whether he is aware of any understanding or assurance made in connection with the US Justice Department’s attempt to abandon its criminal prosecution, after concluding that the prosecutors’ latest filing had raised the “spectre” of a possible undisclosed arrangement.The order by Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on July 8 marked the latest twist in the efforts by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to dismiss with prejudice the November 2024 indictment accusing Adani and seven others of orchestrating a $250 million bribery scheme to secure renewable energy contracts in India.Garaufis directed Adani to respond by sworn affidavit by July 15 to two questions. One, was whether he is aware of anything “promised, offered, sought, received, agreed to, or accepted” in connection with the dismissal of the indictment, and whether he is aware of “any agreement exchanging anything for the dismissal of the Indictment.”The judge’s order followed a 10-page submission filed on July 4 by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, the senior Justice Department official who said he was the “final and sole decisionmaker” behind the move to abandon the prosecution.In that filing, McCotter rejected reports that Adani’s proposed investments in the United States had influenced the department’s decision. He wrote that allegations by unnamed current or former Justice Department officials that he had sought dismissal in exchange for investment commitments were “false” and insisted he had already decided to abandon the securities charges before the subject arose.McCotter nevertheless acknowledged that the issue of investments had been discussed. He argued that, in any event, it would have been “entirely fair” for defence lawyers to point out that the defendants had been unable to access the US financial system for 18 months because of the indictment and had publicly expressed a desire to invest in the United States even before the charges were unsealed.Also read: Blocked By Modi Govt for 14 Months, US SEC Wants Federal Court to Serve Summons on Adani Via EmailGaraufis said those assertions had introduced a new issue into the case. “In other words, Mr. McCotter’s response to the court’s June 26, 2026 Memorandum & Order raises – for the first time – the specter of a possible agreement (involving one or multiple Defendants) in connection with the dismissal of the Indictment that has neither been memorialized nor previously brought to the attention of this court,” the judge wrote.The judge noted that a June 24 letter from Gautam Adani’s counsel explaining why the three defendants backed the dismissal, had made no mention of “any agreement to abandon this case, let alone an agreement to drop the charges in exchange for a defendant’s promise ‘to invest money in the United States.'”Garaufis said that before granting the government’s request under Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the court must satisfy itself that the reasons advanced for dismissal are the real and substantial grounds for the application. Citing previous judicial precedents, he said Rule 48(a) exists as “a power to check power” rather than to transfer absolute authority from the executive branch to the judiciary.Indian decision didn’t examine briberyThe latest order comes less than two weeks after Judge Garaufis refused to immediately approve the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the indictment, describing its original motion as “terse, bland and conclusory” and directing prosecutors to explain each reason for abandoning the case.In response, McCotter argued that the Biden administration had brought a politically motivated “name and shame” prosecution with little prospect of ever bringing the defendants to trial. He also contended that Indian authorities had already examined many of the allegations and found no actionable misconduct.However, the three Indian judicial and regulatory decisions attached to the Justice Department’s filing did not examine the alleged bribery conspiracy forming the basis of the US indictment. Instead, they disposed of separate proceedings on grounds including maintainability, locus standi and the absence of a prima facie competition law violation, without determining whether bribes had been paid to Indian public officials.The Justice Department moved to dismiss the criminal case in May after the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a proposed civil settlement with Gautam and Sagar Adani. The criminal indictment, unsealed in November 2024, alleged that Adani executives orchestrated a years-long bribery scheme to secure power purchase agreements in India while misleading investors who bought US-linked debt securities.