Hindenburg report on Adani group: Congress leader moves SC seeking probe

Congress leader Jaya Thakur has moved a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by Hindenburg Research reportMadhya Pradesh Mahila Congress general secretary Jaya Thakur has moved her plea through advocate Varinder Kumar SharmaThe petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to set up an investigation against Adani Group of Companies and its associates which have allegedly swindled crores of money from the public and the government exchequer It sought a probe by various investigating agencies namely CBI ED DRI CBDT EIB NCB SEBI RBI and SFIO under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the top courtThe plea also sought to direct the investigating agencies to investigate the role of Life Insurance Corporation of India LIC and State Bank of India SBI in investing a huge amount of public money in the followon public offer FPO of the Adani Enterprises at Rs 3200 per share whereas the prevailing market rate of shares of Adani Enterprises in the secondary market was about Rs 1800 per shareThe petition said that Hindenburg Research report has put a serious question mark upon the respondent company Its findings also indicate that the Respondent company Adani Group has inflated the share price of their various companies and by using the inflated price they have obtained loans worth Rs 82000 crore from various public sectors and private banksIN PHOTOS Income Tax department surveys BBC offices in Mumbai and DelhiThe plea alleged that the respondent company and their associates have set up various offshore shell companies at various tax havens such as Mauritius Sypris UAE Singapore and the Caribbean Islands for the transfer of money through the hawala route and have thus indulged in money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA Act 2002The plea further alleged that even after the Hindenburg disclosure LIC SBI and several other public sector companies without due diligence invested huge amounts in the FPO of the Adani Enterprises and hence put crores of public money at risk It is not understood that what was their object and to whom they were supporting and upon whom directions the plea further claimedThe petition also said that as per the Hindenburg report the associate of the respondent company has been indulged in and is accused in various cases booked by the Directorate of Revenue IntelligenceOn February 1 Adani Enterprises decided not to go ahead with its fully subscribed Followon Public Offer FPO with the Group chairman Gautam Adani stating on February 2 that it would not be morally correct to go ahead with the Rs 20000crore share in the current market conditionA report by the New Yorkbased short seller had on January 24 accused Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud among others The USbased firm in its report raised concerns about shares of Adani group companies having a possibility of declining from their current levels owing to high valuationsIn response Adani Group said Hindenburgs report was not an attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India its growth story and ambitions It added the report was nothing but a lieThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever