Hours after the US charged Gautam Adani with bribery and fraud, Congress reiterated its call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the transactions of the Adani group, and jabbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointing to an alleged “internal nexus” between him and Adani.
In a post on X, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the indictment of Gautam Adani and others by the US Securities and Exchange Commission validates his party’s call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation.
The Congress has been pushing for the probe since January 2023, raising concerns over alleged irregularities involving Adani and his business dealings, said Ramesh.
Ramesh referred to the party’s “Hum Adani ke Hain” series, where 100 questions were raised about the alleged scams and the links between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani.
He noted that the questions remain unanswered, reiterating the need for accountability in the matter.
The US authorities have charged Adani with deceiving investors by concealing information about his firm’s solar energy project in India, which allegedly involved bribery.
Adani has been charged with securities fraud and conspiracy, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday. The case focusses on an agreement between Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another organisation to supply 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government.
Ramesh slammed SEBI’s investigation approach, saying, “The SEC’s actions also cast poor light on the manner in which its Indian counterpart, namely SEBI, has gone about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its abject failure to hold the Group to account for the source of its investments, shell companies, etc.”
The legal documents said that while promoting the project to Wall Street investors who invested millions over five years, the accused were also involved in a USD 265 million bribery scheme in India to secure contracts expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over two decades.