New FOI disclosures obtained by Culture Unstained reveal a failure of leadership and lack of meaningful response at the Science Museum after its sponsor Adani was indicted. It comes as questions mount over the Cabinet Office withholding information about a meeting which took place at the Science Museum between Gautam Adani, billionaire boss of the Adani Group, and then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on the day the sponsorship deal was announced.

View the full FOI disclosures obtained by Culture Unstained here.

In November 2024, it was first reported that Gautam Adani, billionaire Chair of the Adani Group, as well as two executives from Adani Green Energy, had been indicted by a US Court, with an arrest warrant issued for Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, the Executive Director of Adani Green Energy, sponsor of the Science Museum’s major new energy and climate gallery. The alleged $265 million bribery scheme directly implicates the named sponsor of the museum’s gallery, Adani Green Energy, as well as Guatam Adani himself, who signed the sponsorship contract with the museum. 

The charges of fraud allege that Adani misled investors as to the adequacy of its anti-bribery measures. Campaigners now argue that Adani has likely misled the Science Museum in a similar way and potentially amounting to a breach of their contract, which clearly states that: 

 ‘each party will ensure it has adequate procedures in place governing anti-bribery and warrants that it will not induce or improperly reward any third party’. 

Furthermore, the FOI disclosures reveal that Adani did not inform the Science Museum of the FBI investigation and subpoena against its executives Sagar and Gautam Adani, even as they attended the official gallery opening at the museum in March 2024 while they were under investigation.  

New FOI disclosures obtained by Culture Unstained relating to the indictment reveal:

Panic at the Science Museum

The Museum’s Executive were not forewarned by Adani, catching them totally off guard when the indictment news was first published in the media on 20 November 2024. The disclosures show Trustees and executives demanding clarity, citing pressure from activists, and calling for meetings, with emails sent into Director Ian Blatchford’s inbox at 6.30am the following morning and an MS Teams call put in for 7.30am. 

Director Ian Blatchford pushes Adani “propaganda“

In response to the damning indictment news, museum Director Sir Ian Blatchford intervenes in discussions to defend Adani by circulating sympathetic news stories – originally shared by an Adani rep – among museum staff, without disclosing that some were from Adani-owned media outlet NDTV. These articles attempt to minimise the developments and claim the indictment has been ‘misrepresented’.

Pressure building on Trustees

Email threads between trustees and members of the museum’s dedicated ‘Partnerships Panel’, which reviews sponsorship issues, suggest that pressure is being felt inside the museum from activist tactics and the indictment combined, with one Trustee explicitly referencing Parents for Palestine’s letter about Adani’s involvement in weapons. On Trustee is also corrected for referring to ‘Adani’ rather than ‘Adani Green’, in line with the museum’s weak claim that they are separate when, in reality, no meaningful distinction exists.

Since 2020, the Museum has dismissed all evidence of Adani’s human rights abuses, environmental damage, financial crime, and complicity in genocide via its partnership with Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems on the production of drones that have been used in Palestine. Despite mounting controversy and opposition, the Science Museum also successfully pushed for an uplift to the original £4 million it received from Adani. The indictment and arrest warrants for Adani executives should be the final straw for the Science Museum, when its ‘Adani Green Energy Gallery’ only serves to launder its sponsor’s reputation. 

The Science Museum Group’s ethics policy explicitly prohibits donations where there are “concerns of fraud” or where funds come from donors who are “believed to have acted illegally”. The indictment filings already provide sufficient grounds to believe Adani has acted illegally, regardless of whether Adani executives are ever extradited. So will the Museum continue to defend a company whose Chair and other senior executives have now been indicted by the U.S? Or will it finally admit the mistake it has made and drop this indefensible company?

Now more than ever these questions matter. Last week, at a First Tier Information Tribunal, Culture Unstained challenged the Cabinet Office over redactions made to information disclosed about meetings between Boris Johnson, during his time as Prime Minister, and Gautam Adani, including one which took place at the Science Museum on the day of the announcement of Adani’s sponsorship. Crucially, that meeting took place at the time it is now alleged that Gautam Adani was personally involved in paying bribes. We believe there is a public interest case for disclosure, with the ruling to be confirmed at a later date. 

View the full FOI disclosures obtained by Culture Unstained here.