Adani indictment in US fresh fodder for Opposition on Parliament session eve
On the eve of winter session of Parliament, the latest five-count criminal indictment against Indian industrialist Gautam Adani unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn has given fresh fodder to the Opposition with Rahul Gandhi set to lead the offensive.
The US court has charged Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain, executives of an Indian renewable-energy company (the Indian Energy Company), with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.
The latest development adds weight to opposition allegations against malpractices in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chaired by Madhabi Buch who has been avoiding parliamentary security.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, who heads the public accounts committee of Parliament, had earlier summoned Buch on the issue of the financial institution. She, however, evaded appearance. The committee has been waiting for her to come and depose.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has been accusing Adani group of alleged financial irregularities and stock price manipulation ever since the US Research group came out with a report on the issue.
Gandhi will again lay bare the opposition strategy against Adani on Thursday with the Congress alleging that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has been favouring the industrialist.
The latest indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice.
The offences it says were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.
The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt, deceptive, and obstructive conduct that violates US law, no matter where in the world it occurs, the indictment added.
