Adani charges: Cong seeks probe, BJP questions timing

With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.

IMAGE: Adani group chairman Gautam Adani. Photograph: ANI Photo

The opposition party also called for 'a new and credible' Securities and Exchange Board of India head to be appointed to complete the securities law investigations into the 'Adani Mega Scam'.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, targeted the Congress over its attack on the central government, saying all the states mentioned in the indictment were at that time ruled by opposition parties.

BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya also questioned the timing of the development, as it came just before the start of Parliament session and Donald Trump's impending presidency.

Adani has been charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

US prosecutors charged Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over $250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than $2 billion in profit.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the US Securities and Exchange Commission'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 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,' 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 businessman. These questions have remained unanswered,' he said.

The Congress reiterates its demand for a JPC into the transactions of the Adani Group, which is leading to growing monopolisation in key sectors of the Indian economy, fuelling inflation, and posing huge foreign policy challenges as well, especially in our neighbourhood, Ramesh said.

Senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda said the indictment is a blow to the Indian name.

'Very surprised and shocked to see that #SEC charges three senior executives in two actions alleging massive #bribery scheme involving Indian Energy companies #Adani Green and #Azure Power. It is a huge blow to the #Indian name and fame,' Pitroda said in a post on X.

'I am sure there is more to come,' he also said.

Congress leader Manish Tewari reiterated the demand for a JPC into the Adani group's dealings.

'THERE SHOULD NOW BE A JPC INTO L' AFFAIRE @gautam_adani,' he said in a post on X.

'Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and other executives were charged with paying more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials and concealing them from US investors,' Tewari said.

Praveen Chakravarty, who heads the Professionals' Congress and Data Analytics department of the party said, 'among all the grave charges, the US District Court has also categorically stated that on Mar 19 2024 Adani Group lied to India's stock exchanges BSE & NSE'.

'This is tantamount to duping Indian investors & a serious offence under SEBI law. Over to Madhabi Puri Buch, yet again!' he said.

In another post, Ramesh said the five-count indictment of Gautam Adani, Sagar R Adani and others unsealed by the US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York has revealed more shocking details about Adani's criminal activities.

'It alleges that they paid over $250 million (Rs 2,100 crore) in bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024. It states that the bribes were paid 'to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion (Rs 16,800 crore) in profits after tax',' Ramesh said.

It alleges that 'on several occasions, Gautam S Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the Bribery Scheme' and claims to have electronic and cellular phone evidence of this, the Congress leader said.

'All of this is consistent with a long record of fraud and criminality carried out with impunity with the obvious protection of the Prime Minister,' Ramesh charged.

The fact that it has taken a foreign jurisdiction to properly investigate Adani only shows how Indian institutions have been captured by the BJP, and how decades of institutional development have been undone by greedy and power hungry leaders, the Congress leader said.

'The answer is clearly for a new and credible SEBI head to be appointed to complete the securities law investigations into the Adani MegaScam, and for a JPC to be set up immediately to investigate its full extent,' he said.

In reply to Ramesh's claims, Malviya said on X 'that the Congress is willing to be a prop in the hands of George Soros and his cabal speaks volumes'.

Malviya said the states where government officials were paid bribes allegedly by the Adani Group were Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh between July 2021 and February 2022.

He told Ramesh, 'All the states mentioned here were Opposition-ruled during that time. So, before you pontificate, answer on the bribes the Congress and its allies accepted.'

While Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were then ruled by the Biju Janata Dal and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress, two regional parties unaffiliated to either the ruling or the opposition alliance at that time, the Congress ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was and remains in power in Tamil Nadu. The Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh.

Taking a swipe at Ramesh, he said it is always good to read before one reacts and added that the US document cited by the senior Congress leader said the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

An Indian court, the BJP leader said, can similarly on legitimate grounds accuse American firms of bribing US government officials to deny access to Indian markets.

'Should we then allow law to take its course and the concerned corporate to defend or plant ourselves in domestic politics of a foreign country,' he said, asking the Congress to not get needlessly excited.

The Congress, especially the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, has constantly alleged proximity between the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adani, claiming that the port-to-energy conglomerate has received undue favours from the BJP dispensation.

Adani has dismissed such suggestions. The BJP, too, has denied the allegations and noted that the Adani Group has invested heavily in many Opposition-ruled states as well.