Controversial industrialist Gautam Adani, who is a favorite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, may not have anything bad to say in India, but he has been facing one problem after another since he was indicted in a US court for bribery and fraud. The day after the US court issued a summons and asked him to respond within 21 days, Kenya canceled all its deals with the Adani Group. Now, there is news that the problem is also going to increase in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A review has been held regarding their power project in Sri Lanka and the cabinet has been given the authority to decide on it. It is worth mentioning that there is a government of Anura Dissanayake of communist ideology in Sri Lanka. The Bangladesh government has also formed a committee to review the power purchase deal from the Adani Group. The government will take a decision on the recommendations of this committee. Meanwhile, the French power company Total Energies has also adopted a new stance. It has decided to stop its investment in the Adani Group. The company has said that it will not invest until the bribery and fraud case is resolved. Foreign companies investing in the Adani Group are pulling back one by one. They have started withdrawing their investment from the stock market. An international agency reports that it has become almost impossible for the Adani Group to get foreign investment now.There should be no further delay.
Comment by American billionaire philanthropist George Soros
It is worth mentioning here that American billionaire philanthropist George Soros believes that the turmoil in Gautam Adani’s business empire can weaken Prime Minister Modi’s grip on the government. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had expressed strong objections, taking Soros’ statement as an attack on Indian democracy. The Adani Group is facing a major crisis after the report released on January 24 by the American investment research company ‘Hindenburg Research’. On this, Soros said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference that Modi will have to “answer questions” from foreign investors and parliament on the Adani Group’s allegations. Soros had said that the turmoil in the Adani Group could open the door to a democratic restoration in the country.
The US had also leveled charges
According to the allegations of US investigative agencies and prosecutors, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani of Adani Green and six officials allegedly paid a bribe of $265 million (about Rs 2265 crore) to Indian officials to boost their solar energy business. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition parties have demanded that Gautam Adani be arrested and the entire matter be investigated by a joint parliamentary committee. As the interference of money and power in India’s political and electoral process increases, shocking revelations are being made about the alliance of politicians and businessmen. To maintain the credibility of the democratic system of the country and to protect the interests of the common people in it, there is a need for a clear separation between politics and business. In this regard, a Supreme Court-led inquiry could be one way out and this would require close coordination between the Centre and the states and Indian and American officials on the other hand. Surprisingly, the Centre has not yet expressed its reaction on the matter.
With the allegations against Adani, the investigation being conducted against him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has also come back into the world’s attention. American short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the Adani Group of ‘stock manipulation and accounting fraud’. This matter also made headlines internationally and the opposition created a lot of ruckus inside and outside Parliament. After the Hindenburg report, the shares of the Adani Group fell sharply and investors suffered losses. This also raised the issue of investor protection, whose money was invested in multinational and large companies of the group. Major opposition parties, including the Congress, had also demanded the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on this matter so that the allegations could be investigated impartially. The name of the ‘Sebi’ Chairperson was also linked to this matter a few months ago and the government was again targeted by the opposition. After Hindenburg levelled allegations against Chairperson Madhvi Buch and her husband, the credibility of ‘Sebi’ itself came under question. The report alleged that the two had stakes in dubious companies outside the country which were allegedly used by the Adani Group to ‘launder money’. These unidentified companies have also been investigated; the Sebi Chairperson had cleared herself of these allegations. The matter also reached the Supreme Court, which formed a six-member committee in 2023 to investigate the stock manipulation and the role of SEBI. The committee’s report gave a clean chit to ‘SEBI’. The opposition had also heavily targeted the BJP-led central government in this matter, although the BJP has been defending the allegations. Citing the Supreme Court committee’s decision, the party had dismissed government collusion in this matter.
When the investigator (SEBI Chairperson) is herself under investigation, can we expect a fair and transparent investigation? Madhavi Buch is still the head of India’s top stock market regulator; she did not even attend the important meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament last month. There are many questions that are yet to be answered and the Government of India is now in a position to clarify the situation.
