The external affairs ministry on Friday said Washington had not served a summons or arrest warrant in the Adani case, a week after the US department of justice indicted industrialist Gautam Adani and six other senior executives of the Adani group on charges of bribing Indian officials.

Responding to questions on the Adani indictment at the weekly briefing, external affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said: “This is a legal matter involving private firms and individuals and the US department of justice. There are established procedures and legal avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed. The government of India was not informed in advance on the issue. We have not had any conversation on this matter with the US government.”

Jaiswal was specifically asked if the US had sought India’s cooperation before the indictment and whether New Delhi had asked Washington for evidence in the week since news broke that Adani and his executives had been indicted.

He did not respond to a question on whether India considered this indictment by the US a case of overreach by Washington.

Jaiswal clarified that the matter pertained to a private individual and a private entity.

“The government of India is not part of it in any manner at this point in time. We see this as a case between the US department of justice and the private individuals and entities.”

On whether the Indian embassy in Washington had received any request from the US department of justice for serving a summons/arrest warrant on Adani and the executives of the company, Jaiswal said: “Any request by a foreign government for service of summons/arrest warrant is part of mutual legal assistance. Such requests are examined on merits. We have not received any request on this case from the US side.”

A statement issued by the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York on November 20 had quoted an FBI assistant director as saying: “Gautam S. Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation.”

‘Clarification soon’

Adani group’s finance chief on Friday said that individuals accused by US authorities of being part of a $265-million bribery scheme, including chairman Gautam Adani, would clarify matters over the next 10 days.

“As a group, there will not be any action (on the US indictment) but individuals will be taking steps,” Adani Group chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai.

Additional reporting by Reuters