Amid the storm stirred by the release of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) report, spotlighting allegations of stock manipulation against the Adani group, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has trained his focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Demanding the establishment of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to conduct a rigorous investigation into the matter, Ramesh has ignited a fiery debate within the corridors of power.
Leveraging the OCCRP report as a foundation for his demand, Ramesh has intensified his critique, drawing attention to the core allegations of brazen violations of Indian securities laws by the Adani Group and its affiliates. This report, first covered by the Financial Times and The Guardian, and now accessible to all through the OCCRP website, has unveiled what Ramesh terms “clearly brazen violations,” casting a shadow over the Adani Group’s operations and its close associates.
Furthermore, Ramesh has unequivocally pointed fingers at Prime Minister Modi, asserting that his administration’s actions have been geared toward safeguarding corrupt allies and quelling investigative agencies, reducing them to mere political instruments. This, Ramesh alleges, has hindered objective investigations into wrongdoing and has subverted the essence of regulatory mechanisms.
The accusations leveled against the Adani Group reverberate beyond the sphere of financial impropriety, as they shed light on the intricate web of affiliations and clandestine relationships. Ramesh suggests that these revelations offer insights into the questions raised by the Congress party regarding Prime Minister Modi’s association with Adani under the banner of the “Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun” (HAHK) series.
He underscores the emerging evidence linking Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling to the circumvention of Indian securities laws. These alleged endeavors, aimed at manipulating minimum public shareholding regulations, have cast a pall over the Adani Group’s dealings. Ramesh exposes the clandestine accumulation of substantial stakes in Adani Group companies by shell companies controlled by Ahli and Chang, which have purportedly been used as proxies for Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod. This intricate labyrinth of corruption, concealed within obscure tax havens, continues to unravel as financial trails become more pronounced.
Ramesh’s critique doesn’t stop at the private sector; it also scrutinizes the role of regulatory bodies. He raises questions about the past association of SEBI Chairpersons with the Adani Group, speculating whether these affiliations may have influenced SEBI’s apparent inability to identify benami shell companies. He probes SEBI’s reluctance to disclose that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had conducted investigations against the Adani Group in 2014, only to see them closed by the Modi government in 2017.
As the Congress leader’s demands for a JPC investigation resonate across the political landscape, the OCCRP report continues to reverberate as a defining moment in the ongoing dialogue between transparency, accountability, and political scrutiny.
