The Congress on Thursday reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the various scams Adani was alleged involved in, hours after a newsbreak that billionaire Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and others from his group were indicted by a US court for allegedly bribing government officials to seek solar contracts in India.
Not just the Congress, INDIA bloc ally Shiv Sena (UBT) said that the revelation from the US court has brought shame to the nation.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut told journalists in Mumbai, “This is a matter of shame for (Prime Minister) Modi and the entire nation. Modi ji has brought a blackspot for the nation for the sake of Adani. In the Hindenburg case, they gave a clean chit. We fought in Maharashtra because we said we don’t want to create an Adani rashtra. They will buy everything and sell everything. From Dharavi to the airport, everything has been sold to Adani”.
He also charged, “₹2,000 crore from Adani has been spent on the elections. This is corruption, this is bribery. It is a shame that Modi ji has given the mantle of industry to Adani”.
Congress, meanwhile, also renewed its demand for “a new and credible” SEBI chairperson to replace incumbent Madhai Puri Buch, who is already under glare for her proximity to the top industrialist, to complete the securities law investigations into the “Adani Mega Scam”.
This is because the US district court has charged in its indictment that on March 19, 2024, Adani Group lied to Indian stock exchanges BSE and NSE about a probe into potential violation of US anti-corruption laws. It amounts to duping Indian investors and is a serious offence under SEBI law, said Congress sources.
US prosecutors accused Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vineet Jaain, and others of offering and promising Indian government officials approximately ₹2,029 crore (approximately ₹265 million) in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to win solar energy contracts in Andhra Pradesh.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s actions also raise questions about the manner in which its Indian counterpart, SEBI, went about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its abject failure to hold the Group accountable 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 added.