Congress insists SEBI’s partial clean chit doesn’t absolve Adani, calls for wider probe into the “Modani scam.”
Alleges bribery, forced asset sales, over-invoiced coal, and biased privatization benefiting Adani Group.
SEBI cleared Adani of insider trading and stock manipulation, but 22 issues remain under investigation.
The Congress stated on Friday that the " Modani scam" must be investigated in all of its aspects, reasoning that it goes much beyond the purview of the market regulator's inquiries. This statement comes one day after SEBI gave the Adani Group a clean sheet in the Hindenburg case.
According to PTI, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said in a statement that, contrary to the managed headlines, the commercial partner in "Modani Enterprises" has now received a "clean chit" from SEBI only in two of the 20 matters being investigated by it under a Supreme Court-mandated probe.
Ramesh stated in a statement that more research into the "Modani Scam" in all of its facets is still necessary.
He added that there are still unanswered issues about the party's 100-question series "Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun" (HAHK).
The Congress leader pointed out that SEBI was ordered by the Supreme Court to "conclude the investigation within two months" after the Hindenburg Report on March 2, 2023.
"Yet, the first SEBI orders were delivered only after two years and seven months, following repeated extensions and delays.
"We now await SEBI's findings on the remaining 22 matters, which include allegations of insider trading in Adani Group companies, violations of rules relating to minimum public shareholding, and the 13 'suspicious transactions' that SEBI told the Supreme Court on August 25 2023, that it was investigating. These involve offshore dealings by close Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling," he said.
"The Modani scam, however, extends far beyond the scope of SEBI's investigations," he asserted.
PTI reported that he brought up the concerns that the Congress had raised in its list of one hundred questions in the prime minister's HAHK series of questions, claiming that they also included the purported abuse of the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department to "force" businesses to sell the Adani Group their assets.
Ramesh additionally claimed that a Rs 2,000 crore "bribery scheme allegedly orchestrated by Gautam Adani and seven associates to secure high-priced solar power contracts in India - regarding which the Modi government has refused, for nearly a year, to serve a US SEC summons."
According to him, the Congress has also been calling for an investigation into the "biased privatisation" of vital infrastructure, such as ports and airports, for the Adani Group's benefit and the import of "over-invoiced" coal by Ahli and Chang, which led to a significant rise in the cost of electricity from Gujarat's Adani power plants.
Adani Group, situated in Gujarat, has consistently refuted every accusation.
Reportedly, Adani received a huge boost on Thursday when the markets watchdog SEBI declared that financial transfers between group firms did not violate any regulations, clearing the billionaire and his group of stock manipulation charges brought by Hindenburg Research.
In two distinct comprehensive orders, the SEBI stated that, following a thorough investigation, the claims of insider trading, market manipulation, and violations of public shareholding standards were found to be unfounded.
A damning report against the Adani Group was published in January 2023 by Hindenburg, which has since closed. It claimed that Adicorp Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Milestone Tradelinks Pvt Ltd, and Rehvar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd were used as a conduit to transfer money from different Adani Group companies to fund Adani Power Ltd and Adani Enterprises Ltd, which are publicly traded.
