'Deeply troubling': Congress on SEBI probe report on Adani 'scam'

The Congress on Saturday said that SEBI’s inability to complete its investigation into alleged round tripping, money laundering and financial frauds committed by the Adani Group is “deeply troubling”.

A day after SEBI submitted its wishy-washy status report to the Supreme Court on its investigation into ‘Adani scam’, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out that “of the 24 matters it has investigated relating to the Adani mega scam, two still have interim status”.

“One of the interim reports relates to the important question of whether Adani violated the Minimum Public Shareholding requirement under Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules. In simple terms, did Adani use opaque entities based in overseas tax havens to engage in the kind of round-tripping and money laundering?” questioned Ramesh.

SEBI in its status report said that the “reason for delay is that information from external agencies and entities is still awaited”.

Interestingly, the SEBI report did not reveal any finding on the 24 specific issues that the market regulator has been investigating since March under the directions of the Supreme Court.

The status report suggests that the market regulator may be trying to buy time on a very controversial, politically charged subject that could snowball into a huge embarrassment for the Modi government in an election year.

It is important to recall here that the SEBI investigation into the 'Adani scam' was necessitated after Hindenburg Research alleged Adani Group of market manipulation and financial fraud.

The next hearing of the apex court is scheduled for August 29.

Saying that "SEBI decided to dilute rules, the prime beneficiary of which appears to be the Adani Group" Ramesh reiterated demand for the JPC probe. "Only a JPC can examine how the Modi government flouted rules, norms and procedures to help the PM’s favourite business group build Modi-made Monopolies (3M) across a range of sectors in India and abroad," said Ramesh.