US Companies Accused Of Bribing Indian Railways & HAL Cough Up ₹1,600 Crore In Penalty Amid Adani Allegations

US Companies Settle Bribery Allegations

As emphasis on market safety and transparent operations grows, scrutiny of purportedly illicit transactions is also on the rise. Recently, three US-based companies accused of bribing Indian public-owned entities have decided to settle the matter of impropriety with monumentally hefty fines.

Penalties Worth USD 200 Million

These companies have decided to cough up a penalty amounting to about USD 200 million, or around Rs 1,600 crore. The three companies involved in the matter are aerospace company Moog Inc., along with tech and solutions giant, led by Larry Ellison, Oracle, and Albemarle Corporation, a major chemical-making company.

These companies were accused of bribing state-owned corporations including Indian Railways, Defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and petrochemical major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Moog Inc paid USD 1.68 million in fines for its alleged bribe of half a million. Ellison-led Oracle paid USD 23 million in fines. In addition, as per reports, Albemarle Corporation also paid a mammoth amount of around USD 198 million to avoid prosecution.

The public bodies who detected these aberrations include the US Department of Justice, the US Security Exchange Commission. These fines were paid to the United States Treasury Department.

Adani Allegations

These developments come at an interesting time, as it was just in November that the US authorities and a New York Federal Court published an indictment against Adani Group and its bigwigs, including Gautam Adani, over bribery allegations.

Here, the group and its associates were accused of offering bribes in tune of USD 265 million to Indian states in order to bag favourable deals in the solar energy sector.

These allegations led to a major furore, leading to a debacle for the Adani Group's listed entities to falter at the equity markets. While case still stands, not much has emerged from the case since the flashy indictment that captured the headlines.