Jairam Ramesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Congress on Friday demanded that the Supreme Court take control of the Adani investigation and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be convened to probe the full scope of the "scam", as it cited reports claiming that Swiss authorities had frozen $311 million (Rs 2,610 crore) of an alleged Adani proxy.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said news reports this morning reveal that the Swiss Public Prosecutors Office has frozen five accounts containing $311 million that belong to longtime "Adani confidant" Chang Chung-Ling following an investigation by the Money Laundering Reporting Office of Switzerland (MROS) that began on December 28, 2021.
US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which had last year targeted the Adani group in a damning report that led to wiping away of $150 billion in market value of listed firms of the conglomerate in the following weeks, in a post on X cited "newly released Swiss criminal records reported by Swiss media outlet" to state that "Swiss authorities have frozen more than USD 310 million in funds across multiple Swiss bank accounts as part of a money laundering and securities forgery investigation into Adani, dating back as early as 2021."
"Prosecutors detailed how an Adani frontman invested in opaque BVI/Mauritius & Bermuda funds that almost exclusively owned Adani stocks," it said citing the report.
Adani group rejected the allegations as baseless, saying it had no involvement in any Swiss court proceedings.
"We unequivocally reject and deny the baseless allegations presented. The Adani Group has no involvement in any Swiss court proceedings nor have any of our company accounts been subject to sequestration by any authority," it said.
An August 9, 2024 order by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, dismissing a challenge to the freezing, has stated that these "opaque funds" are believed to ultimately belong to a corporation that is "suspected of engaging in illicit activities, including money laundering and embezzlement", Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Swiss court reportedly found that Chang and his associates engaged in market manipulation, something that the Adani Group has been accused of for many years, he said.
The Swiss investigators have contended that these accounts are involved in forgery, credit fraud and money laundering, he said.
"Clearly some financial crimes are too much even for the Swiss. Chang’s close links with the Adani Group are no secret. Investigations by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have revealed that Chang and his associate Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli were behind the over invoicing of coal imported by Adani from Indonesia, whose price mysteriously increased by 52% between being shipped out and arrival in Mundra, Gujarat," Ramesh said.
The OCCRP found that Rs 12,000 crore was syphoned out of India between 2021 and 2023 through trading firms linked to Chang and Ahli, he added.
During this period, Ramesh claimed that electricity prices in Gujarat, purchased from Adani Power, surged by 102%.
"But Chang’s role in the Adani story goes much further back, as listed in our 100 pointed questions to the Prime Minister in 2023 under the Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (HAHK) series: He has been a director in many Adani Group firms and once shared a Singapore address with Vinod Adani. He was named in the Panama Papers. His firm Gudami International was named in two Enforcement Directorate chargesheets related to the AgustaWestland helicopter scam," Ramesh said.
His son owns PMC projects that has won big contracts to construct Mundra and other Adani Ports, the Congress leader said.
He further alleged that Chang had connections to Shanghai Adani Shipping and Adani Shipping (China) which were involved in alleged violations of the UN sanctions on North Korea.
"Clearly, the PM is so determined to enrich and protect his friend that he couldn’t care less if India’s reputation in Switzerland, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is damaged. He is allowing a tainted SEBI chairperson to continue at the cost of the reputation of India’s regulatory institutions," Ramesh said.
"It is imperative for the Supreme Court to take control of the Adani investigation and for a JPC to be convened immediately to investigate the full scope of the Adani Mega scam," he added.