Republican lawmaker demands preservation of records in Adani case

Rep Lance Gooden says the indictment alleged acts conducted entirely within India, involving Indian citizens and officials

Washington: A Republican lawmaker has asked the US Department of Justice to preserve all records in connection with the “selective prosecution” of billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani and his group of companies by the Biden administration.

The demand comes less than a week before the Donald Trump administration takes office. Rep Lance Gooden, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, in a letter on Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanded that the department preserve and produce all records and documents leading up to its decision to go after the Adani Group.

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In another letter to Garland on January 7, Gooden had raised serious concerns over the department’s recent indictment of the group. The indictment alleged acts conducted entirely within India, involving Indian citizens and officials, with no apparent injury to US interests, he had noted.

“The allegations in the Adani case, even if proven true, would still fail to make us the appropriate and final arbiter on the issue. These ‘bribes’ were allegedly paid to Indian state government officials, in India, by Indian executives of an Indian company, with no concrete involvement of or injury to any American party,” Gooden had said.

“Conversely, Smartmatic, an American company responsible for conducting our elections, had executives who allegedly laundered money and paid bribes to foreign governments, according to the Department of Justice’s indictment earlier. However, despite numerous attempts by my colleagues and I to have our concerns addressed before the elections, we were never briefed by your department,” he had argued.

“Will the Department of Justice seek an extradition of the Indian executives involved in this case? What is the Department of Justice’s contingency plan if India refuses to comply with an extradition request and claim sole authority over this case? Is the Department of Justice or the Biden administration willing to escalate this case into an international incident between the US and an ally like India?” he further asked Garland.

Gooden said the questions were also to remind him of the probable consequences of the administration’s actions. India is one of the few reliable partners the US has in the Asia-Pacific region, alongside being one of the fastest-growing and largest economies, he said.

“At this juncture, letting the Indian authorities investigate, determine any injury, and adjudicate on the matter instead of jumping to premature conclusions would be the best and only appropriate course of action. It would also be wise to pursue cases where the department is certain we have appropriate and conclusive jurisdiction, aside from a serious shot at winning,” Gooden said in the letter.