PM Modi says ‘personal matters’ like Adani's indictment in US court not discussed with Trump

New Delhi: The indictment of billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani in a court in the United States is a “private matter”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after meeting President Donald Trump in the White House.

He also said that leaders of two nations would not meet to discuss such “private matters”. He made the comment when a journalist asked him and Trump if the issue of indictment of Gautam Adani in a US court came up during the meeting they held in the White House early on Friday.

“Firstly, India is a democratic country, and our culture and our philosophy are based on the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. We consider the whole world as one family. I believe every Indian is mine,” Modi said, apparently reacting to the journalist’s characterization of Adani as an ally of the prime minister.

“Secondly, the leaders of the two nations never meet, sit or talk about such private matters,” said the prime minister.

Billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani were indicted in a US federal court in November 2024 for allegedly conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.

The US prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Gautam and Sagar Adani had agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to the officials of the Government of India to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts.

The legal proceedings by the American Department of Justice against the Adani Group gave the opposition parties in India new ammunition to attack the BJP-led Government in the Centre, both inside and outside Parliament.

The Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India earlier stated that the indictment of Adani in a court in America was a “legal matter” involving private firms, private individuals, and the US Department of Justice.