Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “protecting one person” and asked why “he is not forcing an investigation” into the fresh allegations of inside trading against the Adani Group. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai ahead of the INDIA bloc’s meeting, Rahul Gandhi questioned PM Modi’s silence over the Adani issue and asked for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.
The Congress leader said that the prime minister’s silence has been raising serious questions ahead of the G20 Summit for which leaders from around the world are expected to arrive in India next month.
“…It is very important that the Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi clears his name and categorically explains what is going on. At the very least, A JPC should be allowed and a thorough investigation should take place. I don’t understand why the PM is not forcing an investigation? Why is he quiet and people who are responsible are put behind bars? This is raising very serious questions for the PM just before G20 leaders come here…It is important that this issue is made clear before they (G20 leaders) arrive,” Gandhi said.
“What is very important for a country like India is that there is a level playing field and transparency in our economic environment and businesses that operate here. Today morning, two global financial newspapers have raised a very important question. These are not any random newspapers. These newspapers affect investment in India and the perception of India in the rest of the world…,” he added.
Adani Group denies OCCRP allegations, terms them “recycled”, “Soros funded”
The Adani Group has rejected the allegations levelled by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), terming them “recycled” and “Soros-funded interests” to revive the meritless Hindenburg report.
“We categorically reject these recycled allegations. These news reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. In fact, this was anticipated, as was reported by the media last week,” Adani Group said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the OCCRP had levelled allegations of insider trading and claimed that two persons with close ties to the Adani family had “secretly invested” in the Indian conglomerate.
“An independent adjudicating authority and an appellate tribunal had both confirmed that there was no over-valuation and that the transactions were in accordance with applicable law. The matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Supreme Court of India ruled in our favour. Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds,” the Adani Group asserted.
“Notably, these FPIs are already part of the investigation by the SEBI. As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices,” said the group.
According to its website, the OCCRP calls itself “an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres”, spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.