Fresh revelations of Adani scam
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The reports of stock manipulation and money laundering allegedly carried out by the country's prominent industrialist and close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gautam Adani, and his team have now come to light. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) recently released a report providing evidence of clandestine investments amounting to crores of dollars in the stocks of listed companies. These investments were made after establishing nominal companies in the African country of Mauritius by individuals connected to Adani's family. In January, the American company Hindenburg had made similar accusations against the Adani group. The new revelations confirm the previous reports by Hindenburg. As before, the Adani group has denied these reports. However, they have been unable to deny their links with the companies and individuals mentioned in the report. Furthermore, the fall in their stocks shortly after the report's publication has created a crisis for them. Additionally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's call for an investigation into the matter by a joint Parliamentary committee indicates how the opposition intends to handle the issue in the coming days.
The OCCRP findings provide clear evidence of how Vinod Adani, the brother of Adani Group's Chairman Gautam Adani, along with his industrial partners and friends, artificially inflated the stock value of Adani Group through stock manipulations. The OCCRP reports contain evidence of substantial secret investments made during 2013-18 through companies owned by Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli, a UAE citizen with close connections to the Adani family, and Chinese citizen Chang Chung-Ling. The reports also shed light on the Adani group's mysterious moves to artificially inflate the company's stock value and evade Indian laws in order to launder black money. This is not surprising, given the numerous reports of similar fraudulent activities carried out by crony capitalists like Adani, both inside and outside the country, under the umbrella of PM Modi's authority. All that the OCCRP reports have done is expose these activities more clearly.
Evidence of similar fraudulent activities against Adani have already been received by the authorities. On May 14, 2014, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence issued a show-cause notice to the Adani Group, indicating that they had detected discrepancies. Prior to this, they had also passed evidence to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The allegations were related to proxy individuals associated with Adani who were suspected of channelling substantial funds to Mauritius through the UAE, which were then invested in the stocks of various Adani projects. Now, the OCCRP reports also provide clear evidence of similar allegations regarding equipment imported by the Adani Group. In other words, the fraudulent activities that authorities were aware of earlier appear to have continued with the support of the ruling class. It is worth noting that the authorities gave a clean chit to Adani on the said letter by the Revenue Intelligence department.
It is natural for the opposition to unite against the fraud being carried out under the protection of the Central government. The Congress has clearly stated that the issue now is not Adani but Modi. The Left parties have demanded Supreme Court intervention in the matter. It has become evident to the country that for the government, BJP and Adani are not two separate entities but one. We have enough evidence to glean how Adani became the world's third wealthiest conglomerate. If the ruling government's ideology is based on Hindutva, its economic policies are characterized by crony capitalism; and it is Adani that steers it. The group has been entrusted with the construction and operation of major airports and seaports in the country. Even new projects being announced are aimed to serve the economic interests of the Adani Group. When Modi came to power in 2014, the capital valuation of the Adani Group was Rs 50,000 crore, and now it has surpassed Rs 11 lakh crore. This growth attributed solely to Adani, unlike any other industrialist not only in India but also in the world, is what is termed crony capitalism. What has now been exposed is a huge scam that could potentially disrupt the economic order and stock market of the country. But it would be futile to expect that Modi, who evaded questions about t it whenever they were raised in Parliament, would utter anything in the light of these revelations. However, if the opposition could raise this as a national issue, just as they did with the Manipur violence, that could be seen as a major success.
