Continued need to probe 'Modani Scam' in all dimensions: Congress

A day after the SEBIs clean chit to the Adani Group in the Hindenburg matter the Congress on Friday said there is a continued need to investigate the scam in all its dimensions as it extends far beyond the scope of investigations by the market regulatorCongress general secretary incharge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that contrary to the managed headlines the commercial partner in Modani Enterprises has now received a clean chit from SEBI only in two of the 20 matters being investigated by it under a Supreme Courtmandated probeIn a statement Ramesh said there is continued need to investigate the Modani Scam in all its dimensionsHe also shared a set of questions the party had posed in the 100questionseries Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun HAHK and said they remain unansweredThe Congress leader noted that the Supreme Court on March 2 2023 had directed SEBI to conclude the investigation within two months following the Hindenburg ReportYet the first SEBI orders were delivered only after two years and seven months following repeated extensions and delays We now await SEBIs findings on the remaining 22 matters which include allegations of insider trading in Adani Group companies violations of rules relating to minimum public shareholding and the 13 suspicious transactions that SEBI told the Supreme Court on August 25 2023 that it was investigating These involve offshore dealings by close Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang ChungLing he saidThe Modani scam however extends far beyond the scope of SEBIs investigations he assertedRaising the issues the Congress had flagged in its list of hundred questions in the HAHK series of questions to the prime minister he said it also encompasses the alleged misuse of agencies such as the ED CBI and Income Tax Department to force companies to sell off their assets to the Adani GroupRamesh also alleged that a Rs 2000 crore bribery scheme allegedly orchestrated by Gautam Adani and seven associates to secure highpriced solar power contracts in India regarding which the Modi government has refused for nearly a year to serve a US SEC summonsHe said the Congress has also been demanding a probe into biased privatisation of critical infrastructure like airports and ports for the benefit of the Adani Group and the import of overinvoiced coal by Ahli and Chang which contributed to sharp increases in the prices of electricity drawn from Adani power stations in GujaratGujaratbased Adani Group has repeatedly denied all the allegationsIn a big boost to Adani markets regulator SEBI on Thursday cleared the billionaire and his group of stock manipulation allegations made by Hindenburg Research saying fund transfer between group companies did not fall foul of any regulationThe SEBI in two separate detailed orders said the allegations of insider trading market manipulation and violations of public shareholding norms were found to be unsubstantiated after a detailed investigationHindenburg which has since shut down in January 2023 published a damning report against the Adani Group alleging Adicorp Enterprises Pvt Ltd Milestone Tradelinks Pvt Ltd and Rehvar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd were used as a conduit to route funds from various Adani Group companies to fund publicly listed Adani Power Ltd and Adani Enterprises LtdThis 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