16 Oppn parties file ED complaint over Adani

The four-page letter addressed to ED director SK Mishra was written on the letterhead of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and signed by members of 15 other parties

Opposition parties hit the streets in the Capital on Wednesday and 16 of them wrote a formal complaint to the Enforcement Directorate alleging that the Adani Group engaged in corporate fraud, political corruption, stock price manipulation and misuse of public resources, marking their strongest action yet in an ongoing political saga involving the embattled conglomerate.

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The four-page letter addressed to ED director SK Mishra was written on the letterhead of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and signed by members of 15 other parties.It flagged five separate issues and asked the federal agency to take “immediate action” on the allegations.

“Over the last three months, several crucial pieces of evidence have been made available against the Adani Group in the public domain. Yet, the Enforcement Directorate, which claims to pursue such cases with vigour and fairness has yet to launch even a preliminary enquiry into these very serious charges,” said the letter.

“We are constrained to file this official complaint so that the ED is compelled to investigate a relationship that has serious implications not just for our economy but, most importantly, our democracy,” it added.

ED officials did not respond to requests seeking comment. The Adani Group did not comment.

The letter was signed by leaders of the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party; Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Communist Party of India (Marxist); Kerala Congress; Communist Party of India; Indian Union Muslim League; Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray); Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; Rashtriya Janata Dal; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha; Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi; and National Conference.

The presence of the AAP and the BRS, which had stayed away from some opposition coordination meetings, was notable. To be sure, leaders of both parties have been under the ED scanner over the Delhi excise policy case. The Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, however, were conspicuous by their absence.

BJP spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment sought on the matter.

The development came amid a logjam in Parliament with both the government and the Opposition sticking to their demands -- the former wants an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his comments made on freedom of speech and Parliament in London recently, and the latter wants a discussion and a joint parliamentary probe into allegations of fraud levelled at the Adani Group by American firm Hindenburg Research in a report in January.

The controversy began in the last week of January after the report by Hindenburg accused the conglomerate of improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation, while also raising concerns over high debt levels. The Adani Group denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s narrative of stock manipulation had “no basis” even as it lost north of $100 billion in market valuation.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered a securities probe into the episode and set up an expert committee headed by retired top court judge AM Sapre. It also sought a status report from the Securities and Exchange Board of India on its ongoing investigation into the matter within two months.

The Opposition parties also took out a protest march from Parliament House to hand over the complaint to ED but were stopped by police at Vijay Chowk.

In the letter, the parties made five allegations. One, that the Adani Group established a network of offshore shell companies allegedly involved in artificially inflating stock valuation and distort the group’s financial health. Two, that Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani and his associates allegedly were crucial in setting up these networks. Three, the group allegedly lent significant amounts of money to a company called AdiCorp, which allegedly funnelled the loaned amount to Adani Power. Four, no investigation was done into the security lapses that allegedly led to the attempted smuggling of 3,000kg of drugs, which were discovered in a shipment at the Adani-controlled Mundra port in 2021. And five, the group allegedly exercised improper influence to obtain concession and contracts from governments and regulated entities, including the Dharavi redevelopment project, the Jharkhand power discount and the Special Economic Zone policy.

The letter by Opposition parties, many of whose leaders are under the ED scanner over allegations of financial irregularities, sought to remind the agency how it “has zealously pursued cases of alleged political favouritism including sharing concurrent jurisdiction with SEBI and CBI”.

The letter said the Supreme Court appointed committee had limited remit and “ED cannot turn around and abdicate its jurisdiction on these or other ground”.

“Data available in the public domain actively lists 38 Mauritius shell entities controlled by the Adani group through Vinod Adani or close associates; as well as other entities in Cyprus, the UAE, Singapore, and several Caribbean Islands. The purpose of these entities was to “round trip” money into the Adani companies for the aforementioned reasons,” the letter, drafted by a senior Congress strategist, said.

The Opposition parties also flagged concerns over the money allegedly lent by Adani Group to AdiCorp, “whose financials did not support the lending of such a large amount.”

“That company allegedly funnelled the vast majority of the loaned amount to Adani Power. This transaction alone merits serious scrutiny and explicit details of the transactions are available in the public domain... this is just one example to highlight the brazenness with which the group in question operates. We have several such examples, all taken from data available in the public domain, that we can share with the ED in case it finds itself unable to do so,” the complaint said.

The complaint reiterated lack of investigation in the discovery of 3,000kg of drugs in 2021 at Mundra Port. “There has been absolutely no serious investigation into the company charged with running the port on whose watch this grave crime occurred. Given the cross-border implications, it is even more surprising that the jurisdiction of the ED was never invoked in the investigation,” the letter alleged.

The National Investigation Agency had later filed a charge sheet against nine people for allegedly smuggling the drugs into Mundra port as part of a terror-financing operation.

The TMC and NCP were absent from the list of parties that endorsed the letter.

A senior Congress leader said the NCP was present in the coordination meeting on Monday morning but didn’t sign on the compliant. TMC leaders said the party leadership was upset over comments by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“The Congress cannot take us for granted. On one hand its senior leader is alleging that there is a Mamata-Modi-Adani link, on the other it is expecting us to stand with them. The person who made the remarks is not a nobody, he is the sitting leader of the party in the House,” a senior TMC leader said, requesting anonymity.

Protests and disruptions continued to roil Parliament.

In the Lok Sabha, Opposition members stormed into the Well of the House, raising placards and shouting slogans, demanding a JPC probe into the Adani row while the BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of insulting India.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla repeatedly urged members to return to their seats. “This house is meant for holding discussions and dialogues. Let’s talk about policy and have a good discussion on issues related to public welfare,” Birla said.