SC verdict on Adani matter 'extraordinarily generous' to SEBI: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday said the Supreme Court judgment on certain matters relating to transactions by the Adani Group has proven to be extraordinarily generous to SEBI and asserted that the partys fight against crony capitalism and its illeffects on prices employment and inequalities will continueIn a relief to the Adani Group the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian corporate giant to a special investigation team and directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three monthsReacting to the judgement billionaire Gautam Adani said The Honble Supreme Courts judgement shows that Truth has prevailed Satyameva JayateIn a statement on the judgement Congress general secretary incharge communications Jairam Ramesh hit out at Adani saying truth dies a thousand deaths when we hear Satyameva Jayate from those who have gamed manipulated and subverted the system this past decadeRamesh said the Supreme Court judgment on certain matters relating to transactions by the Adani Group has proven extraordinarily generous to the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI not least by extending its original investigation deadline of August 14 2023 by another three months to April 3 2024It is noteworthy that SEBI has failed to complete its investigation into the violation of securities laws and stock manipulation by the Adani Group and its associates ten months after the Supreme Courts expert committee asked it to do so Ramesh saidIt is unclear what will change in the next three months other than the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections coming into effect he saidMeanwhile a series of exposeacutes from credible news sources has turned the glare on the Adani Groups illicit activities conducted under SEBIs benign gaze Ramesh saidIn his statement the Congress leader pointed out that the most recent revelations include the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealing the actual ownership of two of the 13 benami shell companies that SEBI has failed to identify despite years of investigationChang ChungLing and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli held 81437 of benami holdings in Adani Enterprises Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Adani Power and Adani Transmission he allegedThis was via shell companies in Mauritius UAE and British Virgin Islands in blatant violation of SEBIs minimum shareholding laws Ramesh claimedOn October 12 2023 the Financial Times reported how coal trading firms controlled by Chang ChungLing and Mohamed Ali Shaban Ahli siphoned out Rs 12000 crore by overinvoicing coal imported by the Adani Group to Mundra Port in Gujarat Ramesh saidThe two exposeacutes established a clear link between money flowing out from the pockets of Indian coal utilities and electricity consumers and the funds flowing into Adani Group companies in complete violation of SEBI rules relating to minimum ownership as well as stock manipulation Ramesh claimedHe said that the court is right to observe that news reports are not a substitute for a proper SEBI investigationHowever it is concerning that SEBI has asked for extension after extension while the media has produced exposeacute after exposeacute he saidThose describing this judgement as a clean chit are the same as those who described the Expert Committee report as a clean chit Ramesh saidThe Expert Committee had pointed out that SEBI had in 2018 diluted and subsequently in 2019 entirely deleted the reporting requirements relating to the ultimate beneficial ie actual ownership of foreign funds he saidIt is also worth noting that regarding the Modani MegaScam SEBIs mandate is limited to violations of securities regulations It will not for instance look into how the Modi government manipulating bidding conditions over the objections of the NITI Aayog and Finance Ministry to hand Adani a complete airports monopoly and has misused the ED and CBI to force critical national assets into the hands of the PMs cronies he allegedOr whether the PM forced the State Bank of India to sign an MoU to lend Adani USD 1 billion over a lunch meeting or how the Modi government has forced important neighbouring countries to hand over critical projects to the PMs favourite businessman Ramesh saidHe stressed that it will not investigate how the Maharashtra government moved heaven and earth to hand over the Dharavi Redevelopment Project to Adani at very favourable terms or how Adani has been allowed to inflate consumers electricity billsTo get to the bottom of the Modani MegaScam nothing less than a JPC joint parliamentary committee will do Ramesh saidNone of the hundred pointed questions asked in our Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun series last year stand answered after todays judgment Our fight for NYAY against crony capitalism and its illeffects on prices employment and inequalities will continue even more forcefully the Congress leader said in his statementThis story has been sourced from a third 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