SEBI’s inability to reach final conclusion ‘deeply worrying’, says Congress

New Delhi, Aug 26: The Congress on Saturday said stock market regulator SEBI’s inability to reach a conclusive finding on the allegations of round-tripping and money laundering by the Adani Group was “deeply worrying”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has admitted this in its status report to the Supreme Court and added only a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) can examine how the government flouted norms and procedures to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “favourite business group”.
“The inability of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to reach a conclusive finding on allegations of round-tripping and money laundering by the Adani Group, as it has admitted in its 25th August 2023 status report to the Supreme Court, is deeply troubling,” Ramesh said in a statement.
Sharing the statement on ‘X’, he posted, “SEBI’s inability to reach a final conclusion in the matter of round-tripping and money-laundering allegations against the Adani Group is deeply worrying.” The Congress also alleged that “public money was misused” with the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) having paid “extra” to the Adani Power Mundra (APM) and asked if the central probe agencies and SEBI will investigate it.
Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil, along with the chairman of media and publicity of the AICC Pawan Khaira, claimed that the money could not have been given to Adani’s company without the patronage of senior BJP leaders.
There was no comment from the Adani Group on the charges.
On the SEBI report, Ramesh said that of the 24 matters it investigated relating to the matter, two still have interim status.
Ramesh said one of the interim reports relates to the important question of whether Adani violated the Minimum Public Shareholding requirement under Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules.
“In simple terms, did Adani use opaque entities based in overseas tax havens to engage in the kind of round-tripping and money laundering that the PM has always claimed to oppose? SEBI has stated that the reason for delay is that information from external agencies and entities is still awaited,” he added. (PTI)