New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) The US Department of Justice (DoJ) indictment of Adani Group officials is nothing but a “complete American overreach,” and the conglomerate will come back stronger once this is over, Erik Solheim, former Minister of Environment of Norway, told IANS on Saturday.
According to the veteran diplomat, if the US has some complaints about the Adani Group, it should first go to the Indian government, bring it to their notice and then it should be part of the Indian judicial system, not the US court.
He stressed that such an overreach is also harmful as the Adani Group is an important vehicle for the green transformation of India.
“They have enormous plans to establish solar and wind facilities and have large green investments in several Indian states and abroad. The Group has even announced to invest $10 billion in the US for energy security initiatives. All this will be harmed by such indictments,” Solheim told IANS.
The Adani Group has committed $10 billion investment in US energy security and infrastructure projects, aiming to create up to 15,000 local jobs in the country.
Solheim further stated that the US must stop such an authoritative approach and rather look into the consequences of such meaningless actions, adding that “I’m sure that the Adani Group will come back even stronger after this”.
Solheim, who served as Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said that the time is over when Western nations like the United States were the arbitrators and judges of the world.
“That is a thing of the past. This must stop,” he added.
Meanwhile, Breon Peace, the US Attorney who presented charges against Adani Group officials, has reportedly announced his decision to step down on January 10 – just days away from Donald Trump’s inauguration as the next US President on January 20.
In November, the DoJ indicted Adani Group officials on allegations ranging from securities fraud to wire fraud.
The Group vehemently rejected the allegations as “malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information” to arrive at “predetermined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law”.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
–IANS
na/rad