New Delhi: In the eighth installment of its ‘Hum Adani Ke Hain Koun’ protest campaign, the Congress questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi why there was no “urgency” by Indian regulators, despite earlier findings by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). To probe the suspicious spurt in Adani’s share prices in the last three years”.
one in statement Posted by the party on its official Twitter handle, on behalf of general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party questioned the central government’s silence on the “fresh collusion” between stock broker Ketan Parekh, who was accused of manipulating the markets and Adani in 2008. was blamed for. Group.
The Congress party is demanding the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Adani Group following a report by American short-seller firm, Hindenburg Research, which alleged stock market manipulation by the group.
Notably, the PM, during his two addresses in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha last week, made no mention of the damning report by the Adani group, or the American short-seller Hindenburg Research.
In the first of the three questions issued on Monday, the party cited a 2007 SEBI order which had found entities linked to Parekh to be indulging in manipulative practices to influence Adani’s share price.,
The Congress said a 2007 SEBI decision following an investigation into excessive volatility in the shares of Adani Exports (now known as Adani Enterprises) between 1999 and 2001 had found that entities linked to Parekh were engaged in “synchronized trading/ were indulging in manipulative activities like circular trading and creation of artificial volume to influence the Adani share price”.
The party further said that it “bears a disturbing resemblance to the current allegations against the Adani Group, the difference being that the stock manipulation is now being done by opaque offshore entities,” post 2020 Adani share prices skyrocketed But questioning the silence of SEBI.
In its second question, the party considered the possibility of Parekh’s existing links with the Adani group.
“A close relative of his (Parekh) has worked with Elara Capital, whose company India Fund had invested 99% in Adani shares. Elara is also known to have links with Chartered Accountant Dharmesh Doshi, an associate of Parekh, who absconded from India in 2002 (sic)”, the party statement said.
The party asked whether the Modi government was “turning a blind eye to the fresh nexus between Parekh and the Adani group, a relationship that is 25 years old”, given the serious allegation that Ilara is a front for the Adani group.
Citing the cases of Harshad Mehta and Parekh, who were involved in large-scale stock market manipulation cases in the 1990s, the party, in its third and final question, pointed to a priority of the past [Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party] Governments are allowing the setting up of Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) to investigate these matters.
The Congress government led by former PM PV Narasimha Rao agreed to set up the JPC in the Harshad Mehta case in 1992, while the JPC set up by the BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee probed the Ketan Parekh case in 2001.
“What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that a truly independent investigation may implicate you personally in the wrongdoings of the Adani Group?”, the party asked the prime minister.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal alleged The “Opposition did not allow the House to function” despite repeated requests from the Speaker.
(Editing by Anumeha Saxena)
Read also: Hum Adani ke hai koun, Day 5, Congress’ focus on SEBI, ‘Was there pressure on it to go slow?’