TOI News Desk
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the transactions of the Adani Group, on the day US authorities charged Gautam Adani with bribery and fraud.
“The indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) of the US vindicates the demand that the Indian National Congress has been making since Jan 2023 for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various Modani scams,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
“The INC had asked a hundred questions in its Hum Adani ke Hain (HAHK) series bringing out the various dimensions of these scams and of the intimate nexus that has existed between the PM and his favourite,” he added.
US authorities have charged Adani, amongst the world’s wealthiest individuals, for deceiving investors by hiding information about his company’s substantial solar energy venture in India, which allegedly involved bribery.
The 62-year-old businessman faces securities fraud charges and conspiracy allegations, as detailed in Wednesday’s unsealed indictment. The case centres on a profitable agreement between Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another organisation to provide 12 gigawatts of solar power to India’s government, sufficient to power numerous homes and commercial establishments.
Ramesh criticised SEBI’s investigation approach, stating, “The SEC’s actions also cast poor light on the manner in which its Indian counterpart, namely SEBI, has gone about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its abject failure to hold the Group to account for the source of its investments, shell companies, etc.”
The legal documents reveal that whilst presenting the project favourably to Wall Street investors who invested billions over five years, the accused were simultaneously involved in a USD 265 million bribery scheme in India to secure contracts and funding.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller noted that Adani and associates aimed to “obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.”
US Attorney Breon Peace said the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” and sought to “enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets.”