Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that industrialist Gautam Adani be arrested following his indictment in the United States on bribery charges.
“However, we know that he will not be arrested because Prime Minister Narendra Modi protects him,” Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said at a press conference.
Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and six others have been indicted in New York in a case about the billionaire industrialist’s solar projects in India. The Adani Group, however, denied the allegations and called them baseless.
Gandhi said it was now “clear and established” in the United States that Adani had broken both American and Indian laws.
Referring to the prime minister’s “Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain” poll slogan, the Congress leader remarked: “In India, Narendra Modi and Adani are safe until they are united. While the United States has accused Adani of bribery, nothing can happen to him in India.”
Gandhi also called for removing Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch from her post, alleging that she too was protecting the industrialist.
Last year, the market regulator, headed by Buch, had “drawn a blank” in its investigation of allegations against the Adani Group made by United States-based short seller Hindenburg Research. It had told a Supreme Court-appointed panel that further inquiry could be a “journey without a destination”.
Hindenburg Research alleged in August that Madhabi Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had “hidden stakes” in offshore entities tied to stock price manipulation and money laundering by the Adani Group.
Madhabi and Dhaval Buch denied the allegations, saying they had made all necessary disclosures to the market regulator.
Gandhi on Thursday said that Adani’s indictment in the United States served as vindication of the Congress’ allegations that the central government was protecting the industrialist.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the indictment by the United States’ Securities and Exchanges Commission cast a poor light on its Indian counterpart, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
The Congress MP reiterated his party’s demand that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be set up to look into the transactions of the Adani Group, which he said were “leading to growing monopolisation in key sectors of the Indian economy, fueling inflation, and posing huge foreign policy challenges as well, especially in our neighbourhood”.
Other Opposition leaders also questioned the inaction of SEBI and the central government against Adani.
Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra, posting a link to a press release from the US Securities and Exchange Commission about the case, described SEBI as “spineless” and “compromised”.
She further said: “This is Modi and BJP’s legacy – to run the biggest global kleptocracy. Selling out India’s resources and infrastructure to one corrupt crony at taxpayer and poor’s expense.”
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh accused Modi of allowing Adani to damage India’s global reputation, and described the allegations against the industrialist as serious.
Congress attacking Indian markets, alleges BJP
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said that as far as the allegations of bribery were concerned, it was for the Adani Group to defend itself.
However, he alleged that the Congress and the Gandhi family “are unable to tolerate the fact that India is continuously moving towards becoming the world’s third largest economy”. Patra claimed that because of this, the Congress had been “continuously attacking the Indian markets”.
The BJP spokesperson claimed that since Thursday morning, the Congress’ entire organisation had been engaged in bringing down the Indian stock market. “Due to this, about 2.5 crore small investors have suffered losses,” he said.
In the wake of the indictment, shares of Adani Group companies suffered losses of up to 20%.
Adani says it complied with all laws
The Adani Group maintained that the charges in the indictment were merely allegations and noted that the defendants “are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty”.
It further said: “The Adani Group has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations. We assure our stakeholders, partners and employees that we are a law-abiding organisation, fully compliant with all laws.”
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