Congress leader Jaya Thakur has approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to set up the investigation against the Adani Group of companies and his associates in light of disclosure made by the Hindenburg Research report.
Thakur, General Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress, contended that Adani Group of Companies and his associates, who have swindled lakhs of crores of public money, must be probed by various investigating agencies i e, CBI, ED, DRI, CBDT, EIB, NCB, SEBI, RBI, SFIO under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the top Court.
The plea also sought to investigate the role of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the State Bank of India (SBI) for their decision to invest huge amounts of public money in the FPO of the Adani Enterprises at the rate of Rs 3,200 per share whereas the prevailing market rate of shares of Adani Enterprises in the secondary market was Rs1,800 per share approximately.
The petition said that the Hindenburg Research report published on January 24, 2023 has put a serious question mark upon the company. Findings of the Hindenburg report indicated that the Adani group of companies has inflated the share price of their various companies and by using the inflated price they have obtained loans worth Rs 82,000 crore from various public sectors and private banks.
The plea alleged the company and their associates have set up various offshore shell company in tax havens such as Mauritius, UAE, Singapore and the Caribbean Islands, for the transfer of money through hawala routs and have thus indulged in money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA Act 2002.
After disclosure made by the Hindenburg report, the FPO of 'Adani Enterprises' was opened on January 27, 2023, wherein LIC, State Bank of India and several public sectors companies invested a huge amount at the rate of Rs 3200 rupees per share, whereas in the secondary market, the share was prevailing at Rs 1600 to 1800 per share, which indicates that the LIC and the SBI, without due diligence, have put several thousands of crores rupees of public money at risk, it is not understood that what was their objected and to whom they were supporting and upon whom directions, the plea said.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Court was already seized of two PILs filed by advocates Vishal Tiwari and Manohar Lal Sharma, seeking a direction to probe the alleged criminal conspiracy behind the Hindenburg report. On Monday, the Union government has agreed to a suggestion by the court to set up a committee to suggest measures to protect investors from a market crash as seen in case of Adani's companies.