Fight Against Crony Capitalism Will Continue: Congress On Supreme Court Relief For Adani Group

After a Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said on Wednesday that the report from the  Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) should not serve as the basis for casting doubt on the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) investigation into the Hindenburg case involving the Adani Group, principal Opposition party said its fight for NYAY (Justice) against crony capitalism and its ill-effects on prices, employment and inequalities will continue even more forcefully.

The Supreme Court dismissed the notion of transferring the probe to a special investigation team (SIT), citing a lack of grounds.

SEBI, having already examined 22 out of the 24 cases related to Hindenburg Research’s allegations, received a three-month extension from the Supreme Court to conclude its investigation into the remaining two cases.

Commenting on the extension, the Congress party said that SEBI has failed to complete its investigation into the violation of securities laws and stock manipulation by the Adani Group and its associates ten months after the Supreme Court’s expert committee asked it to do so. “It is unclear what will change in the next three months other than the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections coming into effect,” the party said in a release by its general secretary in charge of communication, Jairam Ramesh.

The statement has also listed two exposes – one from August31, 2023 by the OCCRP, that revealed, the actual ownership of two of the 13 benami shell companies that SEBI has failed to identify despite years of “investigation” and another from  October 12, 2023 by The Financial Times which showed how coal trading firms controlled by Chang Chung-Ling and Mohamed Ali Shaban Ahli siphoned out Rs 12,000 crore by over-invoicing coal imported by the Adani Group to Mundra Port in Gujarat – and said they established a clear link between money flowing out from the pockets of Indian coal utilities and electricity consumers and the funds flowing into Adani Group companies, in complete violation of SEBI rules relating to minimum ownership as well as stock manipulation.

The party has also said the Court is right to observe that news reports are not a substitute for a proper SEBI investigation. “However,” added that “it is concerning that SEBI has asked for extension after extension while the media has produced exposé after exposé”.

Regarding the SEBI’s mandate, the party has also said it is limited to violations of securities regulations. “It will not, for instance, look into how the Modi government manipulating bidding conditions over the objections of the NITI Aayog and Finance Ministry to hand Adani a complete airports monopoly, and has misused the ED and CBI to force critical national assets into the hands of the PM’s cronies,” the statement added.