New Delhi: The Finance Ministry on Monday reiterated that it stands by its earlier statement that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is probing some of the Adani group companies for compliance with regulations. This came soon after the market regulator told the Supreme Court that allegations that it was probing Adani companies since 2016 were “factually baseless”.
“The Government stands by its reply to Question No. 72 in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2021, which was based on due diligence and inputs from all concerned agencies,” the Finance Ministry’s tweet said.
The ministry’s tweet came in response to a tweet by Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, in which he wrote: “Which is worse – misleading Parliament, or sleeping soundly as millions of investors are duped by so-called money-laundering and using offshore shell companies.” Cheated by round-tripping. ?
In July 2012, while answering a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chowdhary said: “SEBI is probing some of the Adani group companies with regard to their compliance with SEBI regulations. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is probing some entities related to Adani group companies.”
The petitioner – who had moved the SC seeking a probe into US short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations that the Adani group was “involved in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades” – had claimed that Sebi Test Adani Group since 2016.
In response, SEBI filed an affidavit stating the opposite.
In the affidavit, it where did it go The allegation that it was probing Adani companies in connection with the probe into alleged Global Depository Receipt (GDR) irregularities was “factually baseless”. It added that 51 listed Indian companies were investigated, none of which belonged to Adani.
“After completion of investigation, appropriate enforcement action was taken in this matter. Therefore, the allegation that Securities and Exchange Board of India is investigating Adani since 2016 is factually baseless. Therefore, I state and submit That the demand to rely on the investigation relating to the GDR is completely wrong,” the affidavit states.
Sebi had in April requested the Supreme Court to grant it six months to complete its probe into the Hindenburg report. Said Emphatically The extension was necessary for proper investigation otherwise it would be “legally untenable”.
“The application for extension of time filed by SEBI is meant to ensure justice keeping in view the interest of the investors and the securities market as without material of complete facts on record any erroneous or premature conclusion of the matter shall not result. miscarriage of justice and hence would be legally untenable,” the body said.
The court orally said on Friday that it would extend the probe period for SEBI, but only by three months.
Meanwhile, apart from Ramesh, other leaders of the opposition also commented on this.
Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena UBT pointed out on social media that the rejoinder was filed by a 22 year old (Assistant Manager) on behalf of SEBI.
“Well done. @SEBI_India hired a 22 year old young man to file affidavit in Supreme Court on its behalf! To file such reply one must be super experienced since kindergarten days or such a big thing Must be so naive to be a part of it,” she tweeted.
Read also: SC sets up expert panel, gives SEBI 2 months to probe Hindenburg’s allegations against Adani
a ‘complicated’ case
Sebi, probing possible violations of “related party” transaction rules in the Adani group’s transactions with at least three offshore entities, had on April 29 sought an extension of six months to complete its probe.
Last week, however, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said it cannot give more than three months to complete the probe. The court had on March 2 given SEBI and an expert committee a period of two months to complete the probe, which ended on May 2.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, argued that the regulator was probing the Adani transactions since 2016 and hence no additional time should be granted.
In response, SEBI argued that Hindenburg’s allegations against the Adani group were extremely complex and included “sub-transactions in multiple jurisdictions”. It said it had contacted 11 foreign regulators for information to determine whether the group had violated any rules with respect to its publicly traded shares as early as October 6, 2020.
(Editing by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Read also: Veteran banker, former UIDAI chief, retired judge – on SC panel to probe Adani-Hindenburg row