Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The Congress party on Wednesday asserted that the Adani mega scam warrants serious punitive action, including arrests and raids by investigative agencies.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in charge of communications, in a statement, also alleged that a “cover-up is in the making,” after reports suggested that Adani entities had applied for a settlement in response to SEBI’s show-cause notices.
Ramesh further stated that any token settlement would reduce Indian institutions to a laughing stock, with their reputation already tarnished by the actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “his cronies.”
Ramesh’s statement comes amid reports that several entities connected to the Adani Group have approached SEBI seeking a settlement in a case that alleges violations of public shareholding norms through unfair practices at four listed companies of the infrastructure conglomerate.
“A cover-up is in the making. Reports that opaque offshore entities and individuals linked to the Adani Group, whose activities have been exposed by successive reports in the public domain, have offered to settle serious allegations of securities law violations for token amounts are a clear indicator of this,” the statement said.
These reportedly involve investments in four companies: Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Energy Solutions, and Adani Ports and SEZ, he added.
“While any settlement would be proof of guilt, which vindicates our ‘Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun’ campaign, it also appears to be heading towards a light slap on the wrist under the direct patronage of the Prime Minister,” the Congress General Secretary said.
“The Adani mega scam requires serious punitive action, including arrests and raids by investigative agencies, which has been the norm for all those who are not close friends or financiers of the Prime Minister. We urge SEBI to take the strictest action against these entities,” Ramesh added.
He further expressed concern over the conflicts of interest of SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who reportedly invested in opaque offshore funds accused of facilitating violations of these very laws through benami investments.
“Far from resigning or being removed, she is now in a position to facilitate a settlement with those she has been protecting all along,” Ramesh said.
“The violations are not limited to public shareholding norms; there is ample evidence that the money used to inflate Adani Group share prices was laundered through over-invoicing of thousands of crores in coal and power equipment imports,” he alleged.
Ramesh claimed that Adani-linked middlemen Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli had built benami stakes of 8-14 percent in these firms using shell companies based in Mauritius, the UAE, and the British Virgin Islands.
The US Department of Justice had on last month accused Adani of being part of an elaborate scheme to pay USD 265 million (about Rs 2,200 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts in four Indian states.
