The US legal set up has issued an indictment and arrest order over an alleged crime committed in India by an Indian citizen for some projects in India. Remember this is coming from a country where a US cabinet pick of the newly elected president of United States has been found to passed on money for sex and have had sexual relations with a minor, where the winning Republican Party has refused to part with critical information on aspects of life of the presidential picks.

As such, the Americans have no jurisdiction over whatever is happening in India, bribery or otherwise, however detrimental these could be for the Indians and the Indian state.

Consider for a moment that an Indian court pronouncing judgments over the lapses in project implementation and bribery in the US over a project being implemented by an American company on American soil. This would simply have been ignored and laughed at with contempt. The idea would have been discarded as an atrocious enlargement of the jurisdictions of Indian courts.

However, US has a law on Foreign Prevention of Corruption Act under which Gautam Adani and his nephew have been indicted and ordered to be arrested. India might just as well pass some laws under which a convicted felon in a foreign country might be disqualified from elected office.

Be those as these may, the issue is that the United States has a certain sway which extends its swagger far beyond its own borders and legal jurisdiction. This is because if a commercial entity is seeking the US financial markets for raising funds these then automatically become applicable for protection of the monies invested by Americans in those entities.

Whether Gautam Adani has in fact bribed the Andhra Pradesh government and its officials and politicians is the subject of enquiry. Nobody in this country believes that large government clearances could be obtained without paying hush money. As the saying goes not even a pin could be sold to a government organisation without greasing the palms.

Even if the alleged crimes had been perpetrated, the Indian crimes investigation agencies should have looked into the allegations. Their record has for history been tardy and excepting for Lalu Yadav, hardly any other prominent politician has ever been convicted.

Notwithstanding glaring lapses in Indian law enforcement and crime prevention institutions and records, as a nation India cannot celebrate the triumphs of American law enforcement agencies in Indian cases. The Indian government agencies will take action against Adani and the others named by the U.S. if those are proved as a result of Indian investigations. US can not be allowed to arrest Gautam Adani or anybody Indian residing within this country on the basis of its own investigation. Gautam Adani is not a terrorist.

Where Gautam Adani and his organisation appears to have tripped is when Adani denied knowledge of US DOJ enquiries into the allegations when prima facie he had knowledge of the enquiry. Since he was raising funds from the US securities market, this constituted concealment of facts from the prospective investors.

Nobody is forcing an investor to part with his money. But not to present all information regarding the organisation and the instrument he was presenting for investment is certainly an infringement. Hence, to that extent Adani organisation is liable.

However, as long as the organisation is staying away from the US capital markets, whether a bribe has been paid or not is purely a question of law for the Indian authorities.

As for criminal obligations, one remembers the Bhopal gas tragedy. The head of the global organisation, which was responsible for the gas leak and the immense suffering from it, was allowed to leave India in apparent knowledge of the Indian authorities. Those responsible were never punished in proportion to the crime and the mutilated lives of people affected. The US laws did not subject them to criminal punishment, despite global condemnation of the negligence.

This is possibly because the suffering was of poor Indians and not American employees in an American plant. Conjure up a case in which a similar incident of grievous injuries to a local population had happened on American soil in the plant of an Indian corporate.

Bribery or no bribery, the fact should be established that in the case of a entity transgressing the laws of the land would face consequences here and not in some foreign land. Soon enough, there could be a demand for extradition of Gautam Adani from the American department of justice. India should be ready to respond to it assertively. The opposition leader including Rahul Gandhi should remember that Gautam Adani’s offences will be tried under Indian laws and he should avoid voicing the American DoJ demand for his arrest. Only Indian authorities have the right to arrest Adani group members if they are found guilty under Indian laws, not US government. (IPA Service)