Coming as another matter of concern for billionaire Gautam Adani, at least 21 international organizations have written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
In the letter, the organizations have requested the Supreme Court for the speedy resolve of the pending case filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, investigating Adani Group firms for alleged overvaluation of Indonesian coal imports.
The development comes after a report by the London-based Financial Times, citing documents from George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), alluded to a fraud by the Adani Group by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel in 2013.
These organisations have contended that they stand firmly against the continued use of fossil fuels. They said the Financial Times report provided fresh and detailed evidence of the passing off of low-quality coal as far more expensive cleaner fuel by the Adani Group in transactions with Tamil Nadu’s Tangedco.
Adani Group has consistently denied all the allegations, and stated that the vessel cited in the report to have carried the coal in December 2013 had not been used for shipping coal from Indonesia before February 2014.
However, the news report has been cited by opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, to demand a joint parliamentary committee probe into the alleged wrongdoing
A spokesperson from the Adani Group has said, “With the supplied coal having passed such an elaborate quality check process by multiple agencies at multiple points, clearly the allegation of supply of low-quality coal is not only baseless and unfair but completely absurd.”
“Moreover, the payment is dependent on the quality of coal supplied, which is determined through the testing process,” he said.
Notably, the 21 international organisations that have written to the CJI are Australian Centre for International Justice, Banktrack, Bob Brown Foundation, Culture Unstained, Eko, Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth Australia, London Mining Network, Mackay Conservation Group, Market Forces, Money Rebellion, Move Beyond Coal, Seniors for Climate Action Now, Stand.earth, Stop Adani, Sunrise Movement, Tipping Point, Toxic Bonds, Transparency International Australia, W&J Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians, and Queensland Conservation Council.