Congress social gathering reiterates demand for investigation by Joint Parliamentary Committee behind the Adani controversy.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Congress on Wednesday reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe to reach on the “unvarnished truth” behind the Adani controversy after it emerged that billionaire Gautam Adani’s elder brother, Vinod Adani, resigned as director of three corporations of the Adani Group’s port and mining tasks in Australia.
In an announcement, Congress basic secretary Jairam Ramesh stated that whereas his social gathering awaited the report of the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee on the “Adani mega scam”, it famous that the committee’s mandate was restricted to violations of securities laws and that it lacked formal judicial authority over varied regulatory and investigative companies.
“News reports suggest that Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod has resigned as director of three companies closely connected to the Adani Group’s Australia port and mining projects. Vinod Adani has previously been alleged to have engaged in ‘brazen stock manipulation’ and ‘accounting fraud’ via ‘a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities’,” Mr Ramesh alleged.
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“Likewise in Australia, Abbot Point Port Holdings controlled by him via shell companies in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands – helped offload billions of dollars of Adani Group debt via related party transactions aimed at disguising the true extent of the Adani Group’s losses from investors,” the Congress chief added.
Mr. Ramesh claimed that two UAE-based shell corporations managed by him additionally lent $3.3 billion in opaque funds to the Carmichael challenge in Australia, as related offshore entities managed by him have finished with different Adani Group companies.
He added that on February 16, whereas posing inquiries to Prime Minister Narendra Modi beneath the Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (How are we associated to Adani) collection, the Congress had identified that Vinod Adani-related entities within the UAE have been additionally discovered by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to be concerned in under-invoicing of energy gear in an alleged rip-off to the tune of ₹5,500 crore.
“While we await the report of the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee into the Adani Mega Scam, we note that its mandate is limited to violations of securities regulations and that it lacks formal judicial authority over various regulatory and investigative agencies. It will not, for instance, look into whether Prime Minister Modi ‘forced’ the State Bank of India (SBI) to sign an MoU to lend the Adani Group $1 billion over a lunch meeting with Gautam Adani and [then] SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya,” Mr. Ramesh stated.
“The committee will also not investigate the true source of the ₹20,000 crore of unaccounted investment in the Adani Group. We, therefore, reiterate the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine all the relevant aspects of the Adani Mega Scam and to present the unvarnished truth to the people of India,” he added.
