Adani-Hindenburg Row: Congress Slams PM And SEBI (Image: www.instagram/incindia, k.c.venugopal, rahulgandhi, gautam.adani)
“India”s investigative agencies will be rendered toothless if PM Modi reduces them to protect the wrongdoings of his friends”, said Congress.
The allegations against the Adani group is getting more worse as new reports from SEBI, ED, and OCCRP are coming out. The case which Congress denotes as the “Adani MegaScam” has its trajectory starting from January 2023 where Hindenburg Research LLC, a US based research firm, has published a report presenting evidences against the Adani Group companies.
According to the report, the conglomerate had engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.
Opposition parties alleges that PM Narendra Modi himself is protecting his friend and business conglomerate Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group.
“Did the obvious conflict of interest revealed by the association of past SEBI Chairpersons with the Adani Group play a role in SEBI’s inability to properly investigate these shell companies?”, asked Congress MP and Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh through X (formerly Twitter).
SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) was investigating the Hindenburg’s allegation against the Adani Group from the direction of of the top court. The Supreme court appointed a panel of experts and asked to submit a report.
In a recent report quoted as Enforcement Directorate (ED) findings to SEBI, Twelve companies including foreign portfolio investors and foreign institutional investors (FPIs/ FIIs) based in tax havens were noted as the top beneficiaries of short selling in Adani Group Shares
“The PM has gone to protect his corrupt friends and their misdeeds by rendering India’s regulatory and investigative agencies toothless, reducing them to political tools to intimidate the Opposition rather than to investigate wrongdoing”, Congress MP and Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
If these reports are correct and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to let off Adani with token fines for “technical violations”, then India’s transition to a “kleptocracy” will be complete, the Telegraph quoted Mr Ramesh.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) also accused Adani and his company stock manipulation.
“The world will ask questions about the Prime Minister and his links with Gautam Adani”, said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi ahead of the G20 meeting that is going to be held in India. “This is a matter of national security This is about the reputation of India. Prime Minister Modi should come clean on this”, Mr Gandhi added.
OCCRP reports shows how hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stock through opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius.
“There is now fresh evidence linking Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling to an effort to bypass Indian securities laws relating to minimum public shareholding that were put in place to prevent share price manipulation. Shell companies controlled by Ahli and Chang—that have been revealed to be fronts for Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod—accumulated substantial stakes in four Adani Group companies covertly and illegally. The stench of corruption around the network of Adani-linked shell companies located in opaque tax havens is only getting stronger with the money trail being established now”, said Mr Ramesh on X.
“Despite the Modi government’s best efforts, the truth will not stay suppressed forever. However, the full story about the flow of benami funds into the Adani Group, how foreign citizens came to play a role in critical national infrastructure and how PM Modi violated rules, regulations and norms to enrich his close friends can only be revealed by a JPC”, he added.
As New Delhi gears up for the 2023 G20 summit meeting, it is worth recalling PM Modi’s words at the November 2014 Brisbane G20 summit calling for global cooperation “to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders”, to “track down and unconditionally extradite money launderers”… pic.twitter.com/xzEpFC76sq
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 31, 2023
“Offshore funds owning 13% of Adani stocks were actually controlled by Vinod Adani. Global Opportunity Fund based in Bermuda had two men who held large positions in shares of Adani Group. Two men were Nasir Ali Shaban Ahli from UAE and Chang Chung Ling from Taiwan. Both of them are close associates of Vinod Adani. Bermuda’s global opportunity fund was maintaining 2 books. One was for the regulators and one was for the investors about the holdings”, wrote the Congress” official handle on X.
Congress has shared a detailed analysis on how the probe was shut by the Modi government, how SEBI”s oversight failed, and the current status of SEBI”s findings and developments in the case.
Important Thread On Adani Mega Scam: Do Read
OVER 13% STAKE HELD BY OFFSHORE FUNDS CONTROLLED BY ADANI PROMOTERS THEMSELVES?
▪️ Offshore funds owning 13% of Adani stocks were actually controlled by Vinod Adani
▪️ Global Opportunity Fund based in Bermuda had two men who held…
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 31, 2023
“The Adani Mega Scam is largest corruption scandal in Indian history”, said MP K C Venugopal criticising Modi government.
“Since he assumed office, PM Modi”s single-point agenda has been to enrich his best friend. The Modi government and SEBI facilitated suspicious offshore individuals to take ordinary Indian shareholders for a ride”, Mr Venugopal added.
“Who are Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shabhan, who ended up controlling 13% of Adani shares through offshore operations from Mauritius? Our question remains the same – whose Rs. 20,000 crore is being controlled through these shady operations? It is clear that PM Modi”s best friend is running an international money laundering racket. PM Modi can no longer hide behind committees and bureaucratic reports, we demand answers”, he said.
