Adani issue: ED cannot 'abdicate' its jurisdiction, say opposition leaders

Leaders of several opposition parties on Wednesday urged the Enforcement Directorate ED to initiate an investigation into the Adani Group over allegations of corrupt practices including money laundering through shell companiesIn a letter emailed to the ED Director S K Mishra the parties told the probe agency that it cannot turn around and abdicate its jurisdictionThe letter was signed by leaders of the Congress CPI CPIM JDU SS UBT RJD DMK JMM AAP IUML VCK Kerala Congress and othersLeaders of several opposition parties were stopped by the police at Vijay Chowk here as they took out a protest march from Parliament House to hand over a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani issueIn their letter to the ED the opposition leaders said We are acutely aware of how in the recent past the ED has also zealously pursued cases of alleged political favouritism including sharing concurrent jurisdiction with SEBI and CBI We are also aware of the limited remit of the Supreme Court Commission appointed on the subject We point this out so as to remind the ED that it cannot turn around and abdicate its jurisdiction on these or other groundsIn light of the above we the members of the Opposition ask that you take immediate action on the above mentioned allegations they told the ED directorThe letter further claimed that over the last three months several crucial pieces of evidence have been made available against the Adani Group in the public domainYet the Enforcement Directorate which claims to pursue such cases with vigour and fairness is yet to launch even a preliminary enquiry into these very serious chargesAlso readBRS leader K Kavitha moves SC in money laundering case arising out of Delhi excise policy scamAs a result we are constrained to file this official complaint so that the ED is compelled to investigate a relationship that has serious implications not just for our economy but most importantly our democracy they saidSharing the contents of the letter on Twitter Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Leaders and MPs of 16 opposition parties who were going to hand over a complaint letter demanding probe into the Adani scam to the ED were stopped from reaching the ED office this afternoonThe opposition leaders also alleged that this case involves serious and farreaching charges of corporate fraud political corruption stockprice manipulation through fraudulent means and the misusemonopolisation of public resources to benefit a single corporate groupIn the letter the leaders alleged that the Adani Group companies are accused of having established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds controlled by parties related to the Adani Group for the purposes of artificially inflating stock valuations and to give a distorted picture with regard to the group companies financial healthThe Adani Group has rubbished all the charges made out against its companies and denied any wrongdoing as earlier alleged by the USbased Hindenburg reportIn the letter the opposition also mentioned recovery of drugs made from Mundra port in September 2021 alleging there has been absolutely no serious investigation into the company charged with running the port on whose watch this grave crime occurredGiven the cross border implications it is even more surprising that the jurisdiction of the ED was never invoked in the investigation the opposition leaders allegedTalking of the debt that the Adani Group has taken from various public sector banks the opposition leaders alleged that there is a clear pattern of corruption cronyism and habitual lawbreakingIt is surprising that despite all of the above the ED has shown little to no interest in pursuing a basic investigation into the entities affairs they also allegedThis 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