A US federal judge asked for more information, and the lawyers in the Adani case say there is no cause for alarm. Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa told ANI on Monday that the request from US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis is a routine procedural step and not a setback for the Justice Department’s bid to dismiss the indictment.
The judge has listed the matter for July 13 after a short adjournment. “The court has not rejected the application for cancellation of the indictment,” Pahwa said. “It has only issued a notice, sought additional information and fixed the matter for July 13. Once the reply is filed, the court will consider it and pass an appropriate order.”
What the judge asked
Garaufis had told the DOJ to give a fuller explanation of its request to drop the case against Gautam Adani. He noted that prosecutors’ May 18 notification, which said they would no longer pursue the case, did not adequately explain the decision to withdraw it.
The prosecution is a securities and wire fraud case pending in New York, also naming Adani’s nephew Sagar Adani. The Justice Department had decided to permanently drop all criminal charges against both men. Prosecutors had concluded, according to the report, that they could not sustain the allegations.
How much say does the court have
Pahwa pointed to Rule 48(a) of the US Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The government can seek dismissal of an indictment, he said, subject to the court’s leave, “and that is exactly what has been done in this case.” A judge can refuse, he acknowledged, but only if the application looks “completely baseless, collusive or against a significant public interest.” Otherwise, he said, the chance of rejection is “very, very bleak” and the court’s jurisdiction in such matters is “extremely limited.”
A second voice in the report, Goldberg, took the same view. He called it a relatively routine matter and said it is very uncommon for a judge to refuse when the Justice Department decides not to pursue a case. Such refusals, he said, happen in situations involving corruption or concerns about it, and a few other rare cases. In his reading, the judge may approve the request but cannot overrule the department on how to prosecute. Any refusal would go up through the appellate process, where such rulings have generally been overturned. Goldberg expects the DOJ to answer the court’s questions and the judge then to approve dropping the indictment against Gautam and Sagar Adani.
The Adani Group has said the case had fatal flaws and that the bribery allegations lacked substance. It also says there were no investor losses, because all bond and loan obligations have been met or are in good standing.
