Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “silence” on the recent allegations against the Adani Group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, where the I.N.D.I.A bloc is meeting to discuss the Lok Sabha election 2023, Rahul Gandhi said the G20 leaders are going to ask about this “special company” that is owned by “a gentleman close” to the prime minister.
Rahul Gandhi said, “Just before the leaders of G20 are coming here, they are going to be asking what is this special company that is owned by a gentleman close to the PM and why is it in an economy like India this gentleman is being given a free ride?” Rahul Gandhi questioned no investigation into the row and asked why PM Narendra Modi has not spoken about the allegations against the Adani Group.
“Why is PM Modi silent, why doesn’t he get this? Joint Parliamentary Committee should be allowed and a thorough investigation should take place into [the] Adani matter. There was SEBI probe but a clean chit [was] given to Adani; very clear something wrong here,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The OCCRP alleged that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stock through opaque investment funds based in Mauritius to fuel the spectacular rise in group stocks from 2013 to 2018.
“The first question arises – whose money is this? Is it Adani’s or someone else’s? The mastermind behind this is a gentleman called Vinod Adani who is the brother of Gautam Adani. There are two other people who are involved in this round-tripping of money. One is a gentleman called Nasir Ali Shaban Ahli and another is a Chinese gentleman called Chang Chung Ling. So, the second question arises – why are these two foreign nationals being allowed to play with the valuation of one of the companies that control almost all of Indian infrastructure…” Rahul Gandhi said.
“The current flavour is G20 and it is about India’s position in the world. What is very important for a country like India is that there is a level playing field and transparency in our economic environment and businesses that operate here. Today morning, two global financial newspapers have raised a very important question. These are not any random newspapers. These newspapers affect investment in India and the perception of India in the rest of the world,” the Congress leader added.
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Updated: 31 Aug 2023, 05:59 PM IST