Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 31 : Congress on Thursday again raised demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe following fresh allegations related to the Adani group with the party accusing the BJP-led government of rendering India’s regulatory and investigative agencies “toothless” in relation to the allegations and “reducing them to political tools to intimidate the Opposition rather than to investigate wrongdoing”.
Party leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been “silent” on the allegations levelled earlier in relation to the government’s role over probes concerning the business group.
"If the country wants to know the truth, a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe is the only way. We again reiterate our demand for a JPC after the new report (by OCCRP). It goes on to prove our institutions failed and rules were violated under their nose. JPC should be formed and probe must start,” he said.
"...From January 28 to March 28, Congress party asked 100 questions to PM Modi regarding Adani... We have no information that who owns Rs 20,000 crores in Adani's shell companies. Rahul Gandhi spoke on the issues of Adani in Lok Sabha and he was disqualified from Parliament…The real issue is the relationship between PM Modi and Adani,” the Congress leader alleged.
Months after Hindenburg Research put out a report on Adani Group which allegedly claimed accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) earlier today alleged that two men who it claimed “secretly invested” in the conglomerate turn out to have “close ties to its majority owners”, the Adani family.
The Adani Group has categorically rejected the allegations levelled by the OCCRP, terming the allegations as “recycled”.
"We categorically reject these recycled allegations. These news reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. In fact, this was anticipated, as was reported by the media last week," the Indian conglomerate said in a statement.
These attempts are aimed at generating profits by driving down our stock prices and these short sellers are under investigation by various authorities, the statement added.
OCCRP – as per the information on its website – is “an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres”, spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Adani Group had also denied allegations in the wake of Hindenburg report, stating that the report by the New York-based entity was "nothing but a lie".
It had termed Hindenburg as "an unethical short seller".
Jairam also posted on ‘X’ terming the fresh “revelations” as “explosive”.
He said the Prime Minister had talked of eliminating “safe havens for economic offenders” and “breaking down the web of complex international regulations and excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt and their deeds” at the 2014 Brisbane G20 summit but the words have proven to be “hollow”.
“The revelations also provide some answers to the more than 100 pointed questions the Congress party has asked the PM…The PM continues to be silent on these questions of national interest,” he alleged.
The Congress leader said questions remain about SEBI’s role.
“Why did SEBI fail to disclose to the Supreme Court that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI) had carried out investigations against the Adani Group in 2014, that were then closed by the Modi government in 2017?” he asked.
Ramesh said the “truth will not stay suppressed forever” and the full story can only be revealed by JPC.
The party had been demanding a JPC probe into the Hinendburg-Adani row.
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