Fresh revelations in Adani issue indicate over Rs 12,000 cr may have been siphoned off in two years: Congress

The Congress on Friday alleged that fresh revelations in the Adani issue by a foreign publication indicate that more than Rs 12000 crore may have been siphoned out of the country in two years reported news agency PTICongress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a statement dubbed it the biggest scam of modern India He claimed that this was not a metaphorical loot but literally theft from the pockets of crores of IndiansJairam Ramesh also accused the ruling BJP government of helping the Adani group acquire assets and the BJP is kept flush with electoral bond funds which allows it to buy MLAs at will and break opposition parties reported PTIThere was no immediate reaction available from the Adani group on the allegationsThis is the biggest scam of modern India It combines greed and heartlessness with a cold contempt for the people of India It is based on the conviction that there is no scam that cannot be managed and that there is no issue that cannot be diverted from But the Shahenshah is mistaken India will not be captured by Modani The people of India will answer in 2024 Jairam Ramesh said in his statementJairam Ramesh said the latest revelations in the Financial Times newspaper which studied 30 Adani coal shipments between 2019 and 2021 amounting to 31 million tonnes found a 52 per cent profit margin even in a lowmargin business like coal trading reported PTIEarlier on October 6 the Congress hit out at market regulator SEBI over its investigation against the Adani Group alleging that Indias institutions are failing its people under the Modi government and asserting that only a JPC could bring out the truth in the matter reported news agency PTIThe Opposition party has been questioning the financial dealings of billionaire Gautam Adanis Group after US research firm Hindenburg alleged irregularities and charged it with stock price manipulation The Adani Group has denied all the allegations made in the Hindenburg report and claimed there had been no wrongdoing on its partCongress general secretary Jairam Rameshs attack came after a media report claimed that the SEBI is likely to tell the Supreme Court that the Adani inquiry began in 2014 but hit a dead endSharing the media report on X Jairam Ramesh said that after first having attempted to hide the fact that it had initiated an investigation against the Adani Group in 2014 it appears that market regulator SEBI will tell the Supreme Court why it paused the investigation in 2017 before being forced to restart it again in 2020Reportedly SEBI will tell the Supreme Court that the initial investigation did not yield anything Jairam Ramesh claimedLet us recall the sequence of events that SEBI singularly failed to unravel The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI in 2014 had investigated the overinvoicing of powergeneration equipment by the Adani Group that siphoned off an alleged USD 1 billion in funds The proceeds of this scam were handled by two Vinod Adani associates Chang ChungLing and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli via companies based in Mauritius and the UAE It subsequently emerged that the same duo had set up two investment funds in Mauritius Emerging India Focus Fund EIFF and EM Resurgent Fund EMRF that funnelled major investments into Adani Group shares Jairam Ramesh saidBy June 2016 the funds held 814 per cent of benami holdings in Adani Enterprises Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Adani Power and Adani Transmission via shell companies in Mauritius UAE and British Virgin Islands Ramesh allegedHow was such a clearcut and brazen violation of laws relating to round tripping and minimum public shareholding allowed to escape scrutiny Why was a comprehensive DRI investigation that had already laid out the key facts ignored What were the pressures put on SEBI to give Adani a clean chit he saidIs it a coincidence that all this occurred during the SEBI chairmanship of UK Sinha who later became a director in an Adaniowned channel Jairam Ramesh askedIndias institutions are failing its people under the Modi government The truth of the Modani scam will only be revealed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee he assertedWith inputs from PTI