SC panel report on Adani no clean chit, JPC probe needed, says Congress

The Congress said that the Supreme Court-appointed Expert Committee’s report on the Adani issue saying there was no prima facie violation of rules, was “predictable” and that any attempts to term it a clean chit was “bogus.”

New Delhi:The Congress on Friday said that the Supreme Court-appointed Expert Committee’s report on the Adani issue saying there was no prima facie violation of rules, was “predictable” and that any attempts to term it a clean chit was “bogus.” According to the Congress leaders, the SC panel had a limited role to play in examining the SEBI oversight into the Adani issue and that a full-scale probe could only be done by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

“The terms of reference of the SC committee were very narrow and were limited only to the regulatory framework. Which is why we have been demanding that only a JPC can look into the entire gamut of issues,” AICC social media head Supriya Shrinate told ETV Bharat.

“The three or four things that the top court has said are very significant. First, we don’t know from where the money is coming to FPI which brings us to the question of where Rs 20,000 crore came into the Adani Group. We have been flagging this issue for a long time. Second, the court observed that some of the shareholders are not fully shareholders and could be promoters of this company. There are 13 foreign funds linked to the Adani Group, which raises the issue of shell companies. Furthermore, the court said that LIC was the largest net buyer of Adani Securities and bought 4.8 crore shares from the price of Rs 1,031 to Rs 3,859. Why was the LIC of India buying shares in the Adani Group when the prices were escalating? Our research says that LIC was buying these shares by selling NTPC and Power Grid. Who commissioned that,” she said.

According to AICC researcher Amitabh Dubey, “The SC panel report is not a clean chit but only a no chit. The report has said that we could not prove anything so we cannot say if any wrong was done or not.” “PM Modi had said earlier during a G20 summit that action should be taken against money laundering. But, this report says that SEBI changed its own rules in 2018, which made it difficult to find out the ultimate beneficial owners of the company. When the probe started the SEBI said that the rule was changed and now the probe is happening so it is difficult to ascertain the extent of money laundering or round-tripping. The SEBI says the probe is on. Hence, the government must explain why the SEBI rules were changed. The SC panel can’t explain how PM Modi extended benefits to the Adani Group in the allocation of airports, and coal blocks,” Dubey said.

According to Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh, “The conclusions of the SC Committee report were predictable and with all its limitations to spin the panel’s report as having given a clean chit to the Adani Group is wholly bogus.” “SEBI is unable to satisfy itself that the contributors of the funds to the FPIs are not linked to Adani. Contrary to the boasts of the Modi government, the committee has found that regulations have moved in the direction of opacity that facilitates the disguise of ultimate beneficial ownership.”