US SEC Can’T Summon Foreign National: Experts

New York: US SEC will have to serve the summons on Adani Group Founder and Chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar in the alleged $265 million (Rs2,200 cr) payoffs through proper diplomatic channels as it has no jurisdiction to summon a foreign national directly, according to sources. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants Adanis to explain their stand on allegations of paying bribes to secure lucrative solar power contracts, but that request will have to follow the established protocol of routing it through the Indian Embassy in the US and following other diplomatic formalities, two sources aware of the matter said.

The US SEC has no jurisdiction over foreign nationals and can’t send anything by post to them. The 1965 Hague Convention and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and the US governs such matters. These clearly lay out the established procedure to be followed in such requests. The summons, which is part of the legal docket that SEC filed before a New York court, will take some time before it can actually be served on the Adanis, they said.