On 12-13 February 2025, Culture Unstained made an Appeal to a First Tier Information Tribunal arising from a Freedom of Information request seeking documents relating to two meetings between then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Chair of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani.

Despite having withheld the material for more than two years since the request was made, in an unprecedented move, the Cabinet Office disclosed 5 documents just ten days before the Tribunal Hearing.

Culture Unstained went ahead with the Appeal in order to seek for information still redacted within the documents to be disclosed and a ruling will be made in due course.

Culture Unstained was represented in the Tribunal by Oliver Jackson of 11KBW, instructed by Paul Taylor of Richard Buxton Solicitors, all working pro bono.

The Disclosed Documents

Three documents relate to Boris Johnson’s meeting with Gautam Adani at the Science Museum in London, during the UK’s Global Investment Summit in October 2021 –  on the same day Adani’s sponsorship of a new ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery was announced. 

• the Prime Minister’s briefing pack for the Global Investment Summit, 18 – 19 October 
• a ‘Clutch card’ reminding him of key points for his meeting with Gautam Adani 
• A 28 October 2021 letter to the Department for International Trade recording the Prime Minister’s interactions

Two further documents relate to Boris Johnson’s April 2022 visit to India, made at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, during which Johnson visited the Adani headquarters in Gujarat. 

• Briefing pack of the Prime Minister’s visit to India in April 2022
• 2022 DIT Letter – Letter from the Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Department for International Trade dated 26 April 202

Background on the US Indictment of Adani executives

In November 2024 Gautam Adani was indicted by a US Court, with an arrest warrant issued for Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, Executive Director of Adani Green Energy. According to filings by US prosecutors, at the time of Boris Johnson’s meetings with Adani, Gautam Adani and other executives were in the midst of enacting a $265 million bribery scheme in a bid to secure lucrative renewable energy contracts, and had misled investors as to Adani’s adherence to anti-bribery practices. Gautam Adani is alleged to have personally met with an Indian official to advance the bribery scheme between September-November 2021, around the time of the Global Investment Summit, and from April 2022 was, with Sagar Adani, involved in multiple meetings in India to discuss the payment of bribes to state government officials in India.

The full witness statements submitted by Culture Unstained as part of the Appeal Process will be made available below:

1. ‘First Witness Statement of Dr Chris Garrard’, covering:
   • the FOI request in the Appeal
   • the UK’s relations with India
   • Gautam Adani and the Adani Group
   • The Adani Group’s Fossil Fuel Activities
   • Corruption and the Hindenburg Group Report
   • Corporate Sponsorship of Museums
   • Opposition to ‘Artwashing’
   • Controversy in the Science Museum Group’s Funding
2. ‘Second Witness Statement of Dr Chris Garrard’, covering evidence from the Indictment by US prosecutors which highlight how at the time of the meetings, Adani allegedly engaged in a large scale bribery scheme to secure lucrative renewable energy contracts in India.