New york:

There is still a possibility that the $265 million bribery case against billionaire Gautam Adani could be dropped if the charges against him are deemed “unworthy or defective” after Donald Trump takes over as US president, a prominent Indian-American lawyer said.

Lawyer Ravi Batra told PTI that while every new president has a new team, President-elect Trump, as the 47th president of the US, who waives FBI background checks for his cabinet, will “neuter any prosecution that is not based on good faith, but it is what he powerfully called: law’.

“Essentially, this means that the law is being applied selectively to target its opponents, which naturally negates the goal of ‘equal protection of the laws’ guaranteed by our federal constitution,” Mr. Batra said.

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He added that “this is an issue that Gautam Adani can raise with his government and asks them to raise it bilaterally” with the incoming Trump administration, who will be sworn in as the 47th US president on January 20, 2025.

“If the criminal or civil charges are deemed frivolous or defective, President Trump’s new Department of Justice and the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) can drop the criminal and civil cases,” said Mr. Batra, adding that “The law is a very wonderful thing, because it can and does self-correct to preserve public confidence in the noble judiciary and the rule of law”.

“This principle also applies in the community of nations, given the all-important prosecutorial discretion. Indeed, this is how prisoner exchanges between nations take place. The president, as federal executive, is constitutionally empowered to set foreign policy and pursue it through his departments of state and justice, respectively.”

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Mr. Batra also said that the bribery charge against Mr. Adani also raised the issue of extraterritorial application of American laws because the Indian tycoon and others involved in the case do not live here.

“Although our domestic laws remain the same, a preliminary issue arises regarding the extraterritorial application of US laws,” Mr Batra told PTI.

Last week, a five-count criminal indictment was filed in federal court in Brooklyn charging Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud and substantial securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion dollar scheme. to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions based on false and misleading statements.

Prosecutors said the indictment “alleges schemes to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and obstruct justice.” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace announced the charges. Peace was appointed by President Joe Biden as the 48th United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

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In the US, the president appoints a United States attorney to each of the country’s 94 federal districts. The U.S. Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer in their district and is also involved in civil litigation in which the United States is a party, according to the Justice Department’s website.

In a parallel civil case, the SEC charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani and Cyril Cabanes, a director of Azure Power Global Ltd., with conduct stemming from the massive bribery scheme.

According to the SEC’s allegations, the bribery scheme was orchestrated to allow the two renewable energy companies to cash in on a multi-billion dollar solar project the companies were awarded by the Indian government.

During the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised more than $175 million from US investors and shares of Azure Power were traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Last week, the SEC announced that its chairman, Gary Gensler, would step down on January 20, 2025, the day Trump is sworn in. Gensler was nominated by Biden to serve as SEC chief in February 2021, confirmed by the US Senate and sworn in in April 2021.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, who was the top federal police officer in the district, announced his intention to resign from his position on December 13, a month before Trump takes office management.

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Similar announcements from federal officials appointed by Biden are expected in the coming days and weeks as Trump ushers in new appointees to his second term as US president. Trump, who won the presidential election earlier this month, has begun announcing his picks for cabinet, White House and staff positions for his second term. Trump nominated Jay Clayton, who was SEC chairman during his first term in the White House, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Presidential appointments require Senate confirmation.

In March 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, then US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said he was “fired” from his post after refusing to resign.

Mr. Bharara was one of 46 US attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama who were asked to resign by the Trump administration. A few months earlier, in November 2016, after Trump won the presidential election, he asked Mr. Bharara to remain in his position as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

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