Congress Leader moves Supreme Court for criminal prosecution of Adani Group; questions SBI, LIC investment in 'inflated' Adani shares

A petition was filed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking the prosecution of the Adani group of companies under various laws and questioning the decision of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest in Adani shares at an allegedly inflated prices..The petition filed by Dr. Jaya Thakur, General Secretary of the Mahila Congress, Madhya Pradesh, highlighted that LIC and SBI invested in Adani Enterprises at the rate of ₹ 3,200 per share when the share price stated to be prevailing in the market was between ₹ 1,600 and ₹ 1,800..This is the third petition filed concerning Adani group of companies this year in the wake of a report by Hidenburg Research on the conglomerate. The said report has accused the Adani companies of fraudulent practices, including inflating their share price..Hindenburg report on Adani: SEBI equipped to deal with issue; no objection to probe committee, Centre to Supreme Court.The petitioner has impleaded the the Union of India, the Union Home Ministry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the LIC and the SBI, apart from the Adani group. .The petitioner has urged the Court to direct an investigation by these authorities against the Adani group and his associates under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court Judge.In the alternative, the petitioner has called on the Court to direct these agencies to probe the role of the SBI and the LIC in investing huge amounts of public money during the Adani Enterprises FPO at ₹ 3,200 per share..Disclosures in the Hindenburg report has put a serious question mark on the Adani group of companies; The report indicates that the Adani group had inflated the share price of their companies and that by using the inflated price, they obtained loans worth ₹ 82,000 crores from various public sector and private banks. The Adani group of companies and their associates have set up off-shore shell companies at tax havens such as Mauritius, Sypris, UAE, Singapore and Caribbean Islands, for the transfer of money through hawala routes. Thus, they have indulged into money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. LIC, SBI and several public sector companies have invested a huge amount, at the rate of ₹ 3,200 per share, in Adani Enterprises, while in the secondary market the share was prevailing at ₹1,600 to ₹ 1,800 per share. This indicates that LIC and SBI have put several thousands of crores of public money at risk, without conducting due diligence. As per the Hindenburg report, an associate of the Adani group indulged in and is accused in various cases booked by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). In this regard, reference was made to Gautam Adani’s younger brother, Rajesh Adani, being accused by the DRI of “playing a central role in a diamond trading import/export scheme around 2004-2005” which involved “the use of offshore shell entities to generate artificial turnover.” At Mundra Ports, owned by Adani, a huge quantity of narcotics drugs was seized several times. However, no action has been taken by the any investigating agency including the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to enquire into the role of Adani Ports Limited. Despite glaring and serious violations of SEBI Act, 1992, neither the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) nor the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken any action or initiated any investigation against the Adani group. The alleged SEBI Act violations has led to the loss of over ₹ 10 crores of public/ investory money in a space of 15 days between January 24, 2023 (when the Hindenburg report was published) and February 10, the petitioner added. The loans amounting to ₹ 82,000 crores extended to the Adani group is likely to be adversely affected since the financial health of the Adani group is not as good as shown by it while taking the loans. This will cause serious liquidity crunch for various banks and financial institutions, which will adversely affect the public at large in India, like it did in the case of Yes Bank. The act of the Adani group to inflate its share prices for seeking bank loans and the failure of the authorities to take any action against the Adani group has lowered the confidence of overseas investors. Due to this, foreign investment in India is likely to be reduced to a considerable extent. This, in turn will affect the affect the Indian economy and reputation of India at a global level..The public interest litigation (PIL) petition was filed through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma and was drawn by advocates Varun Thakur and VV Gautam.